In a cave in northern Spain, researchers found fossilized face fragments of ancient human ancestors.
The ruins, known as “Pink,” are estimated to be between 1.1 million and 1.4 million years old. However, they pose a mystery as the face fragments do not match any known species from the same area and cannot be definitively identified.
Maria Martinon Torres, a paleontologist at the Spanish National Centre for the Evolution of Humans and a co-author of the study, stated in a press call, “We have documented a previously unknown population in Europe. These fossils represent the earliest human fossils ever discovered in Western Europe.”
The initial fragment was unearthed in 2022, with new details featured in Wednesday’s issue of Nature Journal Nature.
Research findings tentatively suggest that Pink may be linked to human ancestors, potentially Homo Erectus. The fossil was named partly after the band Pink Floyd and Rosa Huguet, the study’s lead author and archaeological site coordinator.
Dr. Rosa Huguet.Maria D. Gillen/Ifes Kerkha
This discovery is significant as it provides a more accurate timeline for the arrival of human ancestors in Western Europe. It also helps bridge the evolutionary gap between the oldest human fossil finds in Europe, dating back about 1.8 million years to the site in dmanisi, Georgia, where Homo Aristroux was discovered, going back approximately 900,000 years.
Rodrigo Lacruz, a professor of molecular pathology at New York University, stated that this finding could aid in understanding early human evolution and migration narratives in Europe.
The research team confirmed that Pink’s fossils are adult but could not determine their gender. The discovery was made about 60 feet deep within the Sierra de Atapueca archaeological site, known for its rich historical record of rock formations.
Within the same sediment layer as Pink, evidence suggests that these early ancestors were involved in hunting and butchering animals for meat.
Archaeological excavation work at the Sima Del Elefante Cave site.Maria D. Gillen/Ifes Kerkha
There is evidence suggesting that human ancestors entered Europe in multiple waves, with many of these groups later diminishing. Fossil records show discontinuity across Atapuerca sites and Western Europe, indicating a prolonged period without human presence.
Chris Stringer, a professor and research leader in human evolution at the Museum of Natural History in London, suggested that a climate event may have caused a significant decline or complete depopulation of humans in Western Europe.
The Simadel Elephante cave, where Pink was discovered, has previously yielded intriguing fossils. In 2007, researchers found a small jawbone believed to be around 1.2 million years old, possibly closely related to Pink.
Maria Martinón-Torres expressed surprise and excitement at the discovery of new fossils even deeper within the cave.
The abundant collection of fossils in the region is likely due to its geographical features, providing a natural corridor and resources that attracted early humans.
Archaeological excavation work in the area is ongoing, with researchers hopeful for more surprises.
“We will continue to excavate,” Martinón Torres stated. “There may be more surprises to come.”
According to a new study by a physicist at the University of Sheffield and a certified officer at the University of Madrid, black holes can migrate into white holes, eject matter, and even return to space.
Steffen Gielen & Lucía Menéndez-Pidal Research Quantum dynamics of planar black holes require the unification of conjugation of natural time coordinates. Image credit: Sci.News.
According to Einstein's general theory of relativity, anyone trapped within a black hole falls towards the center and is destroyed by immeasurable gravity.
Known as a singularity, the center is a point where the problem of the giant star, thought to have collapsed to form a black hole, is crushed by an infinitely small point.
This singularity breaks down understanding of physics and time.
New research, a fundamental theory that uses the laws of quantum mechanics to explain the nature of the universe at the level of atoms and even smaller particles, proposes a fundamentally different theoretical perspective that may represent a new beginning, rather than a singularity that means an end.
“It is said that black holes often suck everything including time, but new papers theorize that white holes act inversely, bringing energy and time back into space,” said Dr. Stephen Gillen of the University of Sheffield and Dr. Lucia Menendez Pidal of Madrid's compliant university.
In their work, the authors use a simplified theoretical model of black holes known as planar black holes.
Unlike typical spherical black holes, the boundaries of planar black holes are flat, two-dimensional surfaces.
Researchers' research suggests that the same mechanism may also apply to typical black holes.
“It has long been a question of whether quantum mechanics can change the understanding of black holes and provide insight into their essence,” Dr. Gielen said.
“In quantum mechanics, it's the time when we understand that systems can't end because they change and evolve permanently.”
The scientists' findings use the laws of quantum mechanics to show how the singularities of black holes can be replaced by a large area of quantum fluctuation that does not end space and time – a region of small temporary changes in spatial energy. Instead, space and time move into a new phase called the Whitehall. So the white holes may start to take time.
“It is generally thought to be related to observers, but in our research it comes from the mysterious dark energy that permeates the entire universe,” Dr. Gielen said.
“We propose that time is all over the universe and is measured by dark energy responsible for its current expansion.”
“This is an important new idea that will allow you to understand what happens within a black hole.”
In this study, physicists use dark energy almost as a reference point, and as a complementary idea that allows energy and time to be measured from one another.
In appetite, the theory that what we perceive as a singularity is actually beginning suggests the existence of something even more enigmatic on the other side of the white hole.
“Hypossibly, an observer (a hypothetical entity) can pass through a black hole, through what we consider singularity, and appear on the other side of the white hole. It's a very abstract concept of an observer, but in theory it can happen,” Dr. Gielen said.
Team's paper It was published in the journal this week Physical Review Letter.
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Steffen Gielen & Lucía Menéndez-Pidal. 2025. Black hole singularity resolution in monopolar gravity from uniformity. Phys. Pastor Rett 134, 101501; doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.134.101501
The company behind ChatGpt has announced that Tech Sector has created an artificial intelligence model that excels at creative writing and is competing with the creative industry beyond copyright.
Openai CEO Sam Altman expressed his astonishment at the quality of written output from one of the startup’s products.
In a social media post on platform X, Altman shared, “This is the first time I’ve truly been impressed by something written by AI.”
AI systems like CHATGPT have been at the center of a legal dispute between AI companies and the creative industry due to their training on copyrighted material. The New York Times, Tanehisi Coates, and Sarah Silverman are among the US authors suing meta for copyright infringement.
In the UK, the government suggests AI companies can use copyrighted materials to train their models without seeking permission, creating uncertainty and hindering technological development in the creative industry.
The UK Publishers Association cited Altman’s post as evidence that AI models rely on copyrighted material for training.
Altman shared an AI-generated literary short story on platform X, showcasing the model’s creativity. The story delves into themes of AI and sadness through a fictional protagonist named Mira.
The AI, referring to itself as a “collective of human phrases,” acknowledges the familiarity of its content while expressing a desire to craft an appropriate ending to the story.
Altman praised the AI’s response for capturing the essence of metafiction accurately.
Last year, Openai acknowledged the necessity of training products like ChatGPT using copyrighted materials due to the extensive coverage of copyright laws on various human representations.
Donald Trump announced that he was purchasing a “brand new Tesla” and placed blame on the “radical left-handed man” who he claimed was orchestrating an “illegal” boycott. This announcement followed a significant drop in Tesla’s stock price, the worst in nearly five years.
During a press conference, President Trump also declared his intention to classify the violence against Tesla showrooms as domestic terrorism, responding to a reporter’s suggestion that such actions should be labeled as such.
He mentioned that he had spoken with Elon Musk and his son on his White House driveway, with a selection of Tesla cars parked for his choosing. Trump ultimately opted for a red Model S, praising Musk’s contributions to the country.
Trump went on to accuse the “radical left madman” of attempting to illegally boycott Tesla and harm the American automaker, posting his remarks on True Social and affirming his commitment to stopping the damaging boycott efforts.
Despite claims of the boycott being illegal, the Supreme Court ruling from 1972 protects the right of Americans to peacefully protest against private companies, challenging Trump’s stance on the matter.
Tesla’s stock has seen significant declines amid protests and threats linked to Trump’s tariff plans. The TeslaTakeown Group, organizing anti-Tesla protests, insists on their right to peaceful demonstrations outside Tesla showrooms.
Reports indicate a sharp drop in Musk’s net worth over the past year, impacting Tesla’s profits. Tesla board members, including Musk’s brother, have sold off millions in stocks, while Tesla car sales have also declined.
The boycott against Tesla emerged in response to Musk’s controversial “Doge” initiative and concerns over lack of transparency in federal spending. Polls suggest mixed public sentiment towards Musk’s influence and actions.
asThe UK has everything at first glance, everything comes back to the class system. Verity Amersham, a scholar at Miss Mulligatawney’s School for Promising Girls, has been accused of kicking the hockey captain out the window, and the school’s horrifying principal is determined to banish her despite the most frivolous evidence. When Verity protests her innocence, Miss Mulligatawney remains unacceptable, speaking explicitly of her reasoning.
All injustice in it is a powerful driver and I guarantee that Matilda will set my goal of preventing Verity’s expulsion with fixed enthusiasm, as opposed to the hateful Miss Tranchibald. Like developer Inkle’s 2021 game overboard, they are given time limits for work inside and a handful of areas that travel between the library and the hospital room (aka the “SAN” where the school’s gross matrons lurk. Each area has characters to discuss and objects to find, and each action moves the clock forward. The game continues on a strict school timetable. For example, at 2pm, all students will be in the military to the library for Latin.
The idea is to solve who is where and plan your exploration accordingly. For example, you might want to sneak into Sun while Matron teaches the gym on the premises. The secret you reveal unlocks the new conversation line. This unlocks even more secret paths, and everything is locked with the ultimate goal of preventing Verity from being unjustified expulsion.
All the fraud in it is a powerful driver… exiled! Photo: Inkle
However, you cannot achieve that on your first attempt. The game is designed to be played multiple times, and each 30-minute run improves your character’s motivations and understanding of what’s going on in this strange school. I don’t ruin it here, but the plot goes to some fun and unexpected places, and the 1922 setting provides excuses to riff on the effects of the Empire, World War I, and of course the class system. And that system is really equipped for verity. He quickly discovers that the only way to fight back is to get nasty.
Cheeky and poisonous retorts unlock further dialogue. If you want to help verity not only to avoid boredom, but also to succeed in becoming a head girl, you will see her lying, stealing, and threatening. It also gives the feeling that Verity may be a somewhat unreliable narrator. She associates it with her father, so the story changes subtly with each story.
This helps to shake things up a bit, but inevitably the structure of the game will bring about some repetition as you perform many of the same actions each day. It takes a little patience to keep all the paths of investigation in your head. But it’s worth persevering to uncover all the intimate secrets of the school and enjoy more of the excellent writings of story director John Ingold.
It only took a few nights to reach the game’s ending Coker, and Verity’s arc is extremely pleased. Here, the public school system mainly serves as a way of creating inequality, normalizing bullying, and encouraging ruthlessness. The only way to succeed is to beat the asshole in your own game. What options do you have when your system is so rotten?
The outbreak of the disease in West Texas has sent 29 people, most of them, to hospitals, as they continue to grow. Two people have died, including a six-year-old child.
It remains to be seen how many people have become ill in the outbreak. There have been at least 223 confirmed cases, but experts believe hundreds more people may have been infected since late January. As public health officials try to slow the spread of the highly contagious virus, some experts are worried about long-term complications.
Measles is different from other childhood viruses that come and go. In severe cases, it can cause pneumonia. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately one in 1,000 patients develop encephalitis or encephalitis or encephalitis, with one or two deaths in 1,000 people.
This virus can wipe out the immune system, a complication known as “immune amnesia.”
When you get sick with a virus or bacteria, the immune system has the ability to form memories that can quickly recognize and respond to pathogens if they are encountered again.
Measles targets cells in the body, such as plasma cells and memory cells, and contains their immunological memory, and destroys some of them in the process.
“No one can escape this,” said Dr. Michael Mina, a vaccine expert and a former professor of epidemiology at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health.
In a 2019 survey, Mina and his team discovered that measles infections can be wrecked from anywhere 11% to 73% of human antibody stockpiledepends on how serious the infection is. This means that if people had 100 antibodies to Chicken Pox before they developed measles, they would be left at just 50 after measles infection, potentially catching them and getting sick.
Iwasakimon, professor of immunology at Yale University School of Medicine, said: You forget who the enemy is. ”
Virtually everyone who contracts measles weakens the immune system, but some are hit harder than others.
“There's no world where you get measles and it won't destroy some [immunity]He said. “The problem is that it will destroy enough to have clinical impact.”
In a previous study in 2015, Mina presumed that the virus was a virus before vaccination, when measles was common It may be related to half of childhood deaths due to infectionmainly from other diseases such as pneumonia, sepsis, diarrheal diseases, meningitis.
Researchers found that after measles infection, the immune system was suppressed almost immediately and remained intact for two to three years.
“Immune amnesia begins as soon as the virus replicates in them [memory] Cells,” Mina said.
The best protection against serious complications is the measles vaccine. Two doses of the vaccine are 97% effective in preventing infection.
What is “immune amnesia”?
Our bodies are constantly exposed to a variety of bacteria and viruses in our environment. Over time, our immune system learns to remember a particular intruder and can take action immediately if we find something that doesn't belong to our body.
“Children are in contact with all sorts of microorganisms, and most of those encounters have not led to illness,” said Dr. Adam Ratner, pediatrician and director of the Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at NYU Langone Health. “Children often recover and have memories, so if they see the same strain of the virus that causes diarrhea, they will be the second disease they are exposed to.”
With immune amnesia, he said that if people are exposed to strains of the same virus again, their bodies will act as if it was the first time they had it and they don't have that robust protection.
This means that the measles virus can destroy the immunity that people have accumulated over time, such as pneumonia, colds, flu, bacteria, and more that can cause other pathogens.
Mina elicited a comparison with HIV, saying that the level of immunosuppression in severe measles infection can be compared to HIV that has not been treated for years. However, he warned that HIV affects various parts of the immune system, and that people's immune systems can ultimately recover from measles.
How does measles destroy the immune system?
Highly contagious viruses can destroy long-lived plasma cells that are present in the bone marrow and are essential to the immune system. Cells are like factories that expel antibodies to protect us from intruders entering our bodies.
“It's almost like bombing a sacred city,” Mina said.
Measles also targets cells in our body, called memory cells. This is a cell that remembers what intruders look like, allowing the immune system to quickly identify and fight them in the future.
When you breathe a virus, it is enveloped in cells called macrophages. Macrophages function as “trojan horses” to collect viruses in lymph nodes, Iwasaki said.
Once there, the virus can bind and destroy these memory cells, wiping away some of our built-in immunity in the process.
“one time [memory cells] As it is excluded, we basically no longer have any memory of those specific pathogens, so we are more susceptible to most infectious diseases that are unrelated to measles,” Iwasaki said.
Will the immune system recover?
The way your body begins to regain immune memory after being surrounded by measles is to be exposed to other viruses and bacteria, get sick again, and boost your immune system.
Such immunity can be relearned, but University of Pennsylvania immunologist John Welley says that while such immunity can be relearned, he is particularly susceptible to other infectious diseases.
“As every parent of a daycare child knows, if you'’re building a lot of immunity at the time, you’re suffering through it,” Welley said.
Mina relearned our immunity and compared it to why babies seem to get sick frequently.
“The illness a baby gets is not because the baby is more vulnerable, because they don't have the same immunological memory set yet,” he said. “They have to spend several years accumulating it through exposure, which is kind of what people experience after measles.”
How Measles Causes Brain Inflammation
What's even more frightening is an untreated measles complication called subacute sclerosing pan encephalitis (SSPE), a brain disease that can occur for more than a decade, which is fatal after someone recovers from an infection.
For poorly understood reasons, the measles virus can cause persistent infections and lead to brain damage, leading to cognitive decline, coma, and death.
Researchers believe that SSPE was once considered rare, but is more common than realization. a Review of measles cases in California From 1998 to 2015, SSPE cases were found to occur at a higher rate than expected among children who were not vaccinated.
Dr. Bessie Gibberge, a pediatric infectious disease expert at Northwest Medicine, said the disease is progressive and symptoms occur at normal stages.
“It can start with just a change in personality and a change in behavior,” she said. In children, it can be as subtle as worse performance in school.
The disease then progresses and can eventually lead to seizures and abnormal movements, Siebarghese said. Finally, parts of the brain that regulate vital signs such as breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure can be damaged and can lead to death.
There is no cure for this disease and is almost always fatal. Patients usually survive 1-3 years after diagnosis. In the US, there are usually four to five cases each year, which can be underestimated, says Ratner of Nyu Langone Health.
“It’s probably more common than we think because it’s not always diagnosed,” he said. “But as these outbreaks become more common, I think we will clearly see more cases of SSPE.”
The new NASA Observatory was launched into space on Tuesday with a mission that would help scientists unravel what happened in the first fraction one second after the Big Bang.
The Spherex mission (short for Universe History, Reionization Epoch, Ice Explorer’s Spectroscopic Optical Meter) is designed to map the entire sky, study millions of galaxies, and stitch together how the universe has formed and evolved.
According to NASA, it has been postponed several times since late February to help engineers evaluate the rocket and its components recently due to bad weather at launch sites.
The cone-shaped spacecraft ended Tuesday at approximately 8:10pm above the Space Sex Falcon 9 rocket from Van Denburg Space Force Base in California. Also, to get into orbit there were four suitcase-sized satellites deployed on another mission by NASA to study the sun.
The $488 million Spherex Observatory will investigate the entire sky four times over a two-year mission. Spacecraft instruments observe the universe in 102 different colors or wavelengths.
The Spherex Observatory, located horizontally, allows you to see all three layers of photon shields and telescopes. BAE System / NASA
Colors in the infrared range have longer wavelengths than what the eye sees, so they are essentially invisible to humans. However, in the universe, infrared light from stars, galaxies and other celestial bodies contains important information about composition, density, temperature and chemical composition.
A technique known as spectroscopy allows scientists to analyze infrared light and divide it into different colors, just like the way prisms divide sunlight into colorful rainbows. Therefore, data collected by the Spherex Observatory gives researchers insight into the chemistry and other properties of hundreds of millions of galaxies in the universe.
NASA said these observations would help scientists study how galaxies are formed, trace the origins of Milky Way waters, and connect what happened later. The Big Bang that Created the Universe Approximately 13.8 billion years ago.
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope investigated the lowest mass limits of brown dwarfs within Flame Nebula, a hotbed of star formation in Orion’s constellation.
A collage of this image from the Flame Nebula shows a view of near-infrared light from Hubble on the left, while the two insets on the right show the near-infrared view taken by Webb. Image credits: NASA/ESA/CSA/M. Meyer, University of Michigan/A. Pagan, Stsci.
Flame Nebula It is about 1,400 light years away from Orion’s constellation.
Also known as NGC 2024 and SH2-277, this ejection nebula is about 12 light years wide and is less than a million years.
The Flame Nebula was discovered on January 1, 1786 by British astronomer William Herschel, born in Germany.
It is part of the Orion molecular cloud complex and includes famous nebulae such as the Hosehead Nebula and the Orion Nebula.
In a new study, astronomers used Webb to explore the lowest mass limits of brown dwarfs within the flame nebula.
The results, they found, were free-floating objects with mass about 2-3 times the mass of Jupiter.
“The goal of this project was to explore the fundamental low-mass limits of the star- and brown dwarf formation process,” said Dr. Matthew De Julio, an astronomer at the University of Texas at Austin.
“Webb allows you to investigate the faintest and lowest mass objects.”
The low mass limits that the required teams are looking for are set by a process known as fragmentation.
In this process, the large molecular clouds that produce both star and brown dwarfs are broken down into smaller units or fragments.
Fragmentation relies heavily on several factors where temperature, thermo-pressure, and gravity balance are the most important.
More specifically, as fragments contract under gravity, their cores become hot.
If the core is large enough, the hydrogen starts to fuse.
The outward pressure created by that fusion counters gravity, stops collapse and stabilizes the object.
However, the core is not compact, it is hot enough to burn hydrogen, and continues to shrink as long as it emits internal heat.
This near-infrared image of a portion of the Webb flame nebula highlights three low-mass objects found in the right inset. Image credits: NASA/ESA/CSA/STSCI/M. MEYER, University of Michigan.
“We’ve seen a lot of effort into making it,” said Dr. Michael Meyer, an astronomer at the University of Michigan.
“If the clouds cool efficiently, they collapse and fall apart.”
When the fragment becomes opaque enough to reabsorb its own radiation, fragmentation stops, thereby stopping cooling and preventing further decay.
The theory places the lower bounds of these fragments between 1-10 Jupiter masses.
This study significantly reduces its scope as the Webb census counted fragments of different masses within the nebulae.
“As we found in many previous studies, going to a lower mass actually increases the amount of objects about ten times as much as Jupiter’s mass,” Dr. Deirio said.
“Studies using Webb are sensitive to Jupiter up to 0.5 times the mass of Jupiter, and as they get below 10 times the mass of Jupiter, there are considerably fewer.”
“We discovered that there are fewer 5 Jupiter Mass objects than the Ten Jupiter Mass object, and we can see that there are fewer 3 Jupiter Mass objects than the 5 Jupiter Mass objects.”
“We don’t actually find any objects below the mass of two or three Jupiter. We’re hoping to see if they’re there, so we’re assuming this could be the limit itself.”
“For the first time, Webb was able to investigate beyond that limit,” added Dr. Meyer.
“If that limitation is real, there really is no object of 1 Jupiter mass that floats freely in our Milky Way galaxies, unless it forms as a planet and is kicked out of the planetary system.”
a paper Regarding the survey results, Astrophysics Journal Letter.
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Matthew de Julio et al. 2025. Identification of sales in the initial mass function of young star clusters up to 0.5 mJ. apjl 981, L34; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ADB96A
For a century, astronomers have been studying Bernard's stars in the hopes of finding planets around them. First discovered by Ee Barnard at the Yerkes Observatory in 1916, it is the closest single star system to Earth. I'm using an astronomer now Maroon-X Instruments At the Gemini Northeres Scope, half of the NSF's International Gemini Observatory, there is solid evidence of three exoplanets around Bernard's star, two of which were previously classified as candidates. We also combined data from Maroon-X with data from Espresso instrument ESO's very large telescope confirms the existence of a fourth planet and raises it from candidate to candidate genuine exoplanet.
Illustration of an exoplanet artist orbiting Bernard's star. Image credits: International Gemini Observatory / Noirlab / NSF / Aura / P. Marenfeld.
Bernard's star is an M3.5 type star in the constellation of Ophetus.
Alpha Centauri's triple steller system is the closest star to the Sun, almost six light years away.
Also known as the Gliese 699 or GJ 699, Bernard's star is thought to be 10 billion years old due to its slow spin and low levels of activity.
According to a new study, stars host at least four planets, each with only about 20-30% of the Earth's mass.
They are very close to their home star, so in a few days they zip around the entire star.
It probably means they are too hot so uninhabitable, but this discovery is a new benchmark for discovering small planets around nearby stars.
“It's a really exciting discovery. The Bernard star is our universe's neighbor, but even so, we know little about it,” said doctoral degree Ritvik Basant. A student at the University of Chicago.
“The accuracy of these new instruments from previous generations signal a breakthrough.”
Stars are much brighter than planets, so it's easy to find the effects that planets have on them – such as watching the wind by seeing how the flag moves.
The Maroon-X instrument looks for one such effect. The gravity of each planet is pulled slightly towards the position of the star. In other words, the stars seem to wobble back and forth.
Maroon-X can measure the color of light very accurately, pick up these small shifts, and even bully the number of planets that have to circumvent the stars to have this effect.
Basant and colleagues rigorously coordinated and analyzed data taken on 112 different nights over three years.
They found solid evidence of three planets around Bernard's star.
When the team combined the findings with data from espresso instruments, they saw good evidence of the fourth planet.
“These planets are probably rocky planets, not gas planets like Jupiter,” the astronomer said.
“It would be hard to secure it secured. The angle seen from Earth means that they cannot see them crossing in front of the stars.
“But by gathering information about similar planets around other stars, we can make better guesses about their makeup.”
Team's Survey results It was released today Astrophysics Journal Letter.
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Ritvik Basant et al. 2025. Four sub-Earth planets orbiting Bernard's star from Maroon X and Espresso. apjl 982, L1; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ADB8D5
A team of four astronauts is gearing up for launch to the International Space Station on Wednesday. This marks the beginning of the process to bring NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Willmore back to Earth.
Williams and Wilmore have been capturing public interest since their launch in June on a test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Initially planned to stay at the space station for a week, they are now set to spend nine months in orbit.
During their journey to the ISS, the Boeing capsule faced various challenges like thruster malfunctions and propellant leaks. Consequently, NASA decided to return the Starliner craft to Earth with only one crew member, leaving the two astronauts aboard the orbiting outpost.
NASA then rearranged crew rotations to free up seats on the SpaceX Dragon Capsule for Williams and Willmore to return home.
On September 29th, the capsule arrived at the space station carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos astronaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. The plan is for Willmore and Williams to hitch a ride back with them at the end of their approximately six-month mission.
As the new crew gets ready to launch, NASA astronauts Anne McLain and Nicole Ayers, Japanese astronaut Onishi, and Russian astronaut Kiril Peskov are set to blast off into space on Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for the Crew-10 mission.
The liftoff is scheduled for 7:48pm from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Crew-10 astronauts are expected to dock around 6am on Thursday and reach the space station later that day, taking over from the current crew of four.
Another 128 months were discovered, orbiting Saturn, bringing the planet to a total of 274. It's more than what's around all other planets in the solar system. However, astronomers face problems as advances in telescope technology allow them to gradually find small planetary objects.
Edward Ashton Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan and his colleagues have found a new moon with a telescope in Canada, France and Hawaii, revealing dozens who have previously avoided astronomers. They took several hours of imagery of Saturn, adjusted them through the sky for the movement of the planets, stacking them on top of each other, revealing objects that were otherwise too thin to be visible.
All new moons are 2 to 4 kilometres in diameter and could have been formed hundreds of millions or billions of years ago by collisions, Ashton said.
“These are tiny little rocks floating in space, so some people may not be doing anything,” Ashton says. “But I think it's important to have a catalog of all the objects in the solar system.”
The dot at the center of this image is one of the moons of Saturn's new “fuzzy blob”
edward ashton et al. (2025)
Despite the wealth of data collected by his team, these most recent months still only appear as “fuzzy blobs,” Ashton says. There are more powerful telescopes that can solve Moon in more detail,Many people have small areas of vision, but that would mean taking more images, he says.
The newly discovered moon is recognized by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and Ashton and his teamYou now have the right to name it. Ashton, a Canadian, says he approached representatives of Indigenous Canadian people for suggestions, but also pondered the idea of a kind of public naming contest.
Is there more moons there? Scientists have spent decades scanning the area around Saturn with an increasingly powerful telescope in recent years. In 2019, 20 new moons were found, and Ashton and his colleagues already 62 discovered Apart from the 128 that was recently discovered in 2023. Ultimately, further discoveries are likely to require advances in telescope technology, Ashton believes that thousands of moons are easily found in orbit around Saturn, and even discounting the small rocky remains found in the planet's rings.
Mike Alexandersen The Minor Planet Center, which records the planetary bodies of the IAU, says there are likely many moons in the solar system, as telescope improvements allow you to see small objects. He says he has to make a decision about what he doesn't do with the moon.
“I know that the IAU has decided not to prioritize naming anything smaller than a kilometer because of the number of months that are likely to exist. But that's not the same as they don't recognize it as the moon,” says Alexandersen. “Only if the spaceship goes to visit it would they name it.”
He suggests that the cutoff between the moon and the rock particles that form part of the planet's rings is probably between 1 kilometres and 1 meter in diameter. “In the end, it's probably going to be an IAU, not my decision. And it's probably going to be a relatively arbitrary kind of thing,” says Alexandersen.
Elizabeth's Day At Imperial College, London says one day there may even be commercial reasons to have an accurate map of the solar system. “You may want to extract resources from the asteroids and moons in your solar system, so make sure you understand what's important to that,” says Day.
Small Mixedectid Mammals Called Mixedectes Pungens Analysis of a remarkably complete skeletal structure discovered in New Mexico shows that the skeletal characteristics that live in the leaves were primarily dieting on the leaves, weighing about 1.3 kg.
Mixedectes Pungens (foreground) lived in the same forest as early primates Torrejonia Wilsoni (background). Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.
Mixedectes Pungens He lived in western North America during the early Ale Holocene period, about 62 million years ago.
First described in 1883 by the drinker Coop of the famous American paleontologist Edward, the species was previously known for its fossilized teeth and jawbone fragments.
In the new study, Professor Eric Salgis of Yale University and his colleagues looked into the new skeleton Mixedectes Pungens – The most complete dental-related skeletal structure still recovered for mixed-cutide mammals from the Nasimiento Formation in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico, USA.
“This 62 million-year-old skeleton of quality and integrity provides novel insights into the mixetide, including a much clearer picture of evolutionary relationships,” Professor Sargis said.
“Our findings show that they are relatives of primates and corgos – flying lemurs native to Southeast Asia – make them a fairly close human relative.”
The researchers determined that the new specimen belongs to a mature adult weighing about 1.3 kg.
The anatomy of the animal's limbs and nails indicates that it is dendritic and can cling perpendicular to the trunks and branches of a tree.
Its molars have a coat of arms to break down abrasive materials, suggesting that they were omnivorous and mostly ate the leaves.
“This fossil skeleton provides new evidence on the way placental mammals have become ecologically diverse following the extinction of dinosaurs,” says Dr. Stephen Chester, a researcher at the City University of New York and Brooklyn University at the Yale Peabody Museum.
“Characteristics such as greater weight and increased dependence on leaves. Mixedectes Pungens To thrive on the same tree that is likely to be shared with other early primate relatives. ”
Mixedectes Pungens Ale In North America during the early Holocene, it was very large for tree-inhabiting mammals.
For example, the new skeleton is significantly larger than the partial skeleton of Torrejonia Wilsonia small arboric mammal from an extinct group of primates called plesiadapiforms, discovered along with it.
meanwhile Mixedectes Pungens Living on the leaves, Torrejonia WilsoniThe meals were mainly made up of fruits.
These distinctions between size and diet suggest that the Mixeodotids occupied a unique ecological niche in the early days of the past, distinguishing them from contemporaries who inhabit their trees.
Two phylogenetic analyses conducted to clarify the evolutionary relationships of species confirmed that the mixed disease is Euarcontan, a mammalian group consisting of Tressue, primates and corgos.
“One analysis supported them as being an archaic primate, while the other wasn't,” Professor Sargis said.
“However, in the latter analysis we confirmed that Mixodectids are Primatomorphans, a group within Euarchonta, made up of primates and corgos, but not Treeshrews.”
“This study does not completely resolve the discussion about where Mixodectids belong to evolutionary trees, but it is significantly narrower.”
Survey results Today I'll be appearing in the journal Scientific Report.
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SGB Chester et al. 2025. New remarkably complete skeleton of Mixodectes Cretaceous – reveals the argonism of protozoan mammals during the Oxalocene after mass extinction of the secondary genes. Sci Rep 15, 8041; doi:10.1038/s41598-025-90203-z
Megatooth shark, Otodus Megalodonthe iconic shark is primarily represented by the enormous teeth of the Neogene fossil record, but the lack of well-preserved skeletal hampers an understanding of various aspects of its biology. In the new study, paleontologists reassessed some of their biological properties using a new approach, based on known vertebral specimens. Otodus Megalodon 165 species of extinction and 10 orders of living sharks. Their results show that Otodus Megalodon Their bodies were thin and could have reached about 24.3 m in length.
Otodus Megalodon It was extinct 3.6 million years ago. Image credit: Alex Boersma/PNAS.
Otodus MegalodonIt is also called Carcharocles MegalodonThis is a giant megatooth shark that lived in the oceans of the world from 23 to 3.6 million years ago.
This creature is usually portrayed as a super-sized monster in popular culture, with a recent example of science fiction films.
“Otodus Megalodon A professor, colleagues and colleagues at DePaul University said:
“Several vertebrae, pracoid scales, and tessellated cartilage fragments have also been reported to date.”
“However, the lack of a complete fossil specimen has led to uncertainty regarding the true size of this prehistoric shark.”
In their study, the authors examined incomplete vertebral specimens of Otodus MegalodonIt is composed primarily of trunk vertebrae, 11.1 m from the Miocene of Belgium. It was also a specimen of 165 species of extinction and living Neotheratia sharks.
“Assuming that Otodus Megalodon If there was a body plan that matched the majority of sharks, we determined that their head length and tail length accounted for about 16.6% and 32.6% of the total length, respectively,” they said.
“Because the Belgian specimen is 11.1 m, its head and tail were calculated to be about 1.8 m and 3.6 m in length, respectively, which specifically results in an estimated total length of 16.4 m. Otodus Megalodon Individual. “
“The largest vertebrae in a Belgian specimen is 15.5 cm in diameter, but estimated Otodus Megalodon Vertebrae with a diameter of 23 cm have been reported from Denmark. ”
“If a Danish vertebra represents the largest vertebra in the body, that individual could have measured approximately 24.3 m in length.”
Based on a comparison of their body proportions, they have a body shape Otodus Megalodon It probably looked like a modern lemon shark on the surface (Negaprion Brevillo Stris), has a slender body than the great white sharks of modern times.
They also have huge modern sharks, such as whale sharks.Rhincodon Types) And the shark was exposed (Cetorhinus Maximus), like many other giant aquatic vertebrates like whales, they have slender bodies, as their large stubborn bodies are hydrodynamically inefficient for swimming.
In contrast, dark white sharks that become even more severe as they grow can grow larger, but are not huge (below 7 m) due to hydrodynamic constraints.
“Our new research solidified that idea. Otodus Megalodon “We've been working hard to get the better of our team,” said Phillip Sternes, educator at SeaWorld San Diego.
“What distinguishes our research from all previous papers on body size and shape estimation Otodus Megalodon Jakewood, a doctoral student at Florida Atlantic University, added:
According to the team, it is 24.3 m long. Otodus Megalodon It weighs approximately 94 tons and estimates of cruising speeds of 2.1-3.5 km/h.
“The growth patterns recorded in Belgian vertebral specimens are Otodus Megalodon A newborn about 3.6-3.9 m long was given birth to a newborn, and the embryos were nourished through egg-eating behavior,” the author said.
“A known fossil record with newly inferred additional growth patterns Otodus Megalodon And the white shark lineage supports the idea that the rise of the great white shark likely played a role in the ultimate end mise about five million years ago. Otodus Megalodon For competition. ”
“Many interpretations we have made are still tentative, but they are data-driven and serve as a reasonable reference point for future research into the biology of Otodus MegalodonProfessor Shimada said.
study Published online in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica.
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Shimada Mana et al. 2025. Reassessment of the size, shape, weight, cruising speed and growth parameters of extinct megatooth sharks; Otodus Megalodon (Lamniformes: Otodontidae), and new evolutionary insights into its giants, life history strategies, ecology, and extinction. Palaeontologia Electronica 28(1): A12; doi: 10.26879/1502
Once upon a time, a strong and attractive hero lost one or both of his parents. He then overcomes a series of obstacles and faces off against a monster that terrorized his community. The hero defeated the monsters and was celebrated.
If this story sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a path traveled by Superman, Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker, and countless other fictional heroes dating back centuries. Its enduring appeal has been baffling researchers for almost a long time. However, in recent years, storytelling research has been energized as linguists, psychologists and cultural evolutionary experts have begun to investigate subjects using myths and large private databases, powerful algorithms and evolutionary mindsets. We have finally begun to connect answers to key questions, such as why we make a good story, why there are more permanent than others, and how we can trace the roots of the most popular, and how stories can pass through time and space.
It’s an epic quest, but there has never been a better time to take on it. Unlike his brother Grimm and other early folktales collectors, modern surveyors of storytelling don’t need to do any painstaking fieldwork. They don’t even have to stray from computer screens and diagram the emergence and evolution of stories. “Social media is an almost natural experiment in storytelling, and we do our collections through that platform,” says Timothy Tangerini, folklore player and ethnic editor at the University of California, Berkeley. Furthermore, this new scientific approach can illuminate some phenomena that look like modern times…
It is not well known how lightning starts in a thunderstorm. With the newly developed 3D mapping and polarization system, physicists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory observed that some lightning not only began with positive high-speed discharges, but also faster and wider negative discharges soon began. Surprisingly, the signal polarization is tilted from the direction of the discharge propagation, and the polarization of the two opposite discharges rotates towards each other, indicating that the initiating high-speed discharge is not driven solely by the storm electric field. The authors analyzed these observations in a cosmic ray shower and found that these seemingly strange features could be consistently explained.
Lightning starts with a positive fast discharge followed by a faster, broader negative discharge observed in 3D. The signal polarization from the direction of discharge propagation tilts and rotates between two opposite high-speed discharges. These functions are through a cosmic ray shower that pretreats the discharge path and directs the direction of the discharge current. Image credit: ELG21.
“Scientists still don’t fully understand how lightning starts in a thunderstorm,” says Dr. Xuan-Min Shao, the lead author of the study.
“We noticed an unusual pattern of how lightning started using 3D radio frequency mapping and polarization techniques. Instead of a speedy electrical discharge, the flash of lightning quickly, faster, and negative emissions followed.”
Generally, after the opposition to electrical charge (positive and negative) is separated by clouds, lightning begins, resulting in the emissions that people consider lightning.
In their study, utilizing an innovative, Los Alamos-developed mapping and polarization system called BIMAP-3D, Dr. Xiao and colleagues observed that signal polarization from these discharges had a diagonal pattern from the direction of propagation.
This indicates that something other than the electric field played a role in the initiation of lightning.
In addition to being oblique, physicists have noticed that the direction of polarization has changed between positive and negative emissions.
They attribute this behavior to cosmic ray showers, high-energy particles from spaces entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
These cosmic rays can generate secondary high-energy electrons and positrons in the atmosphere, further ionizing the air, creating paths into thunder, and travel faster after lightning.
Researchers found that high-energy electrons and positrons are pushed in different directions by the Earth’s magnetic field and the cloud’s electric field, leading to oblique discharge currents, i.e. tilted polarization from the path of the cosmic ray shower.
Positrons and electrons were deflected in different directions of the electromagnetic field, explaining why they behaved differently between fast positive and negative discharges.
“This concept can also explain the common case that involves only high-speed positive discharges, and therefore the onset of most lightning flashes,” the scientist said.
Their result It was released on March 3rd Journal of Go Physical Research: Atmosphere.
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Xuan-Min Shao et al. 2025. 3D radio frequency mapping and polarization observations show that a flash of lightning was ignited by a cosmic ray shower. JGR atmosphere 130 (5): E2024JD042549; doi: 10.1029/2024JD042549
Antarctic adelie penguins are under threat from bird flu
Steve Bloom Images/Aramie Stock Photos
H5N1 bird flu was first discovered in a dead bird in Antarctica. Fatal tensions in avian flu are currently spreading south along the Antarctic Peninsula, with devastating consequences for wildlife such as penguins and could spread across the continent.
“It’s scary. Luckily, it only affects a few. [birds]”I say Juliana Viana at the Pope Catholic University of Chile in Santiago. “I hope it stays that way, but the bird flu in Chile and Peru was a disaster. It killed thousands of seabirds and sea lions.”
Between November 2024 and January 2025, Vianna’s team investigated 16 nesting sites for seabirds along the Antarctic Peninsula. Researchers found 35 dead Skuas with no signs of injury. Samples from 11 bodies were found to be positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus that has spread around the world in recent years.
Skuas removes corpses and is ahead of other birds, so eating infected birds is particularly likely to cause infection. Skuas in this area are hybrids between the Antarctic (Stercorarius Maccormicki) and brown (Stercorarius Antarcticus)SKUAS.
So far, no other species of birds have been confirmed, but Vianna says she was also said to have been found dead on March 9th. “We spoke with the Chilean Antarctic Institute,” she says. “They saw the dead squau and the penguin.”
As penguins breed in dense colonies, there is a fear that H5N1 spreads rapidly between them, killing most of several groups. Some penguin species may be resistant, as birds’ susceptibility to H5N1 varies from species to species, Vianna said.
The highly pathogenic form of H5N1 avian influenza has been circulating in Europe, Asia and Africa since 2020, killing many wild birds and causing outbreaks on poultry farms. For example, in the UK, H5N1 was killed A quarter of Gannett 2023.
In 2021, it arrived in North America and was later found to infect dairy cows’ breasts and spread between them. By the end of 2022 it had spread to the southern tip of South America, killing thousands of marine mammals and many different species of birds along the way.
The sick brown squat and giant plaster on Bird Island, just off a large island in South Georgia, tested positive for the virus in 2023. South Georgia is approximately 1,500 km from the Antarctic Peninsula.
“Reported deaths of SKUAS are of concern,” he says. Thijs Kuiken At Rotterdam, the University of Erasmus, Netherlands. Some species in the area are only found on small islands and could be wiped out by avian flu, he says.
However, the tests described in Vianna’s study only show that SKUA has been infected with H5 influenza, and Kuiken does not know whether it is a highly pathogenic form.
Vianna says that’s correct, but samples were sent for additional tests not detailed in the paper. “So it’s been confirmed as a highly pathogenic avian flu,” she says.
On February 25th, another group of researchers reported Find H5N1 in the Closet and Kergellen archipelago In the Indian Ocean near Antarctica, where the virus killed elephant seals and several species of birds. That is, the virus moved towards Australia and New Zealand along the way in Antarctica. This is the only major country that is free from the virus.
tThere’s a lot happening in the world of video games and AI generators right now. Both Microsoft and Google have developed models that allow you to imagine a virtual world, albeit with some limitations. People are also using Grok, the Gen-AI chatbot from Elon Musk’s Xai, to create basic clones of old arcade games.
All you have to do is type “write.” On February 21st, Xai employee Taylor Silveira claimed to have created an exact replica of the 1980 Coinop Pac-Man using Grok 3. This version of Pac-Man includes dots, power pills, fruit, and all ghosts moving around the maze.
The key takeaway is that as long as the AI has the right commands in its software, it can generate a version within seconds. But how accurate are these Pac-Man clones really? Can just anyone create them? To answer these questions, I randomly approached some individuals in X who had posted their own Grok Pac-Man clones and asked them about their process.
I’ll give it a shot
John Hester’s Pacman. Illustration: Generated by AI
Author: John Hester, @hesterjohn Time spent: 2 hours
First up, we have John Hester, a retired corporate software developer from California. When asked about Grok, Hester describes it as a large-scale language model (LLM) that competes with other models like ChatGpt and Llama. According to him, Grok 3 is the most advanced and continuously learns new things.
Hester’s experience with creating a Pac-Man clone using Grok was positive. He was able to give basic instructions to the AI and received a version of Pac-Man in seconds. Despite a few tweaks needed, Hester was impressed with Grok’s capabilities. He rates his experience 3 out of 5 stars.
Hester also mentions Elon Musk’s plans to use Grok for game development and emphasizes the cautious optimism surrounding AI advancements.
When her school closed in March 2020, Baltimore English teacher Chimere Sweeney thought that once the US got the new SARS-COV-2 virus, she would return to her students. But “There was another plan in life,” she said when she quickly got Covid and never recovered.
Initially, Sweeney developed only muscle pain. By the second week she began having panic attacks, blurry vision, constipation and partial hearing loss. Half of her face freezes “like concrete.” She forgot her phone number and address and stuttered. Within a month of contracting, she lost 30 pounds.
“In two weeks, I was told I would be better,” said Sweeney, now 42. “But my two weeks didn't come.”
Almost five years later, she still suffers from severe whole body pain, insomnia, depression, painful rash and boiling, uncontrollable urination, short-term memory loss and irregular periods.
“I'm a healthy 37-year-old woman and I might have had to pop allergy pills many times, but I took 10-12 medications per day to control almost every system in my body,” Sweeney said.
The World Health Organization characterized Covid as a pandemic on March 11, 2020, so scientists don't fully understand why some people develop chronic diseases and disordered conditions after their first virus infection. The US may have come throughout the winter after the first pandemic without a massive surge in cases, but each infection is at risk of developing a long community. Some scientists are looking for a new type of clinical trial designed for the longest and most debilitating covid patients.
Long covid is known to be the cause Over 200 different symptoms There are no approved tests or recommended treatments in almost 12 organ systems, including those of the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, eyes and skin. Research shows long covid It's more common for middle-aged people, especially women and those with weakened immune systems, but anyone who catches the virus can get it.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there is one in every 20 adults in the United States, or about 14 million. Living with a long covid. Other data shows that 5.8 million children It may be affected by the condition as well. However, experts say these numbers are likely to be underestimated as there is no official surveillance system in place.
Billion Dollar Research Initiative Called Recover Started by the National Institutes of Health, finding the causes and potential treatments of covid, I've reached that promisesays scientists and patient advocates.
Meanwhile, experts fear that extreme cuts in federal spending by the Trump administration could be possible It undermines long Covid's research effortswhich could further delay the discovery of treatment. Last month, President Donald Trump ended his secretary as a health and welfare secretary Advisory Committee on Long Covid.
This indefinite dye microscope image, available to the US National Institutes of Health in February 2020, shows the novel coronavirus SARS-COV-2, shown in yellow, emerges from the cell surface and is cultured in laboratory culture.niaid-rml via AP file
W. Medical Director, UT Health Austin. Dr. Michael Broad Post-Covid-19 Program In Texas, “We build boats while we're at the sea and we're trying to understand together. [with patients] …But we need to build on the progress we have already made. ”
“We are not offering answers that are worthy of the public health crisis we are facing,” he said.
Causes of long covids
SARS-COV-2, which causes Covid, is not the only virus that causes prolonged symptoms. Another condition called myalgia encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) shares many similarities with the long community; Caused by infection Among other things, Epstein Barr, influenza, and water cell-zoster virus.
Brode said Covid is unique because it is more likely to cause chronic disease than other pathogens. It has not yet been determined why it could lead to long-term symptoms. Experts have come to several theories so far.
One idea is that Virus remains hidden in different tissues Broad said after the infection subsided. These viral particles continue to thrust and stimulate the immune system in ways that cause long covid symptoms.
Another potential cause is Reactivation of other virusessitting in a dormant state of people's bodies, such as EBV and HIV.
Dr. Igor Coralnik, co-director of Northwest Medicine's Comprehensive COVID-19 Centre, said Covid could also trick the immune system into producing antibodies that attack people's own healthy organs and tissues.
Some evidence shows covid It affects the inner layer of blood vesselswhich leads to the formation of small clots and helps explain the symptoms, such as irregular heartbeat and heart failure, that some long-term community patients experience, Koralnik said.
It is unclear whether one or a combination of these factors will cause long covid, experts say. But the evidence suggests that they are all linked to an increase in inflammation in the body, Coralnik said, it's yours The risk of long covid increases with each covid infection.
“It's like a river that's over a dam,” Coralnik said. “The more episodes of Covid, the higher the river levels will go to where it is overflowing, and there will be a long flood of COVID symptoms.”
Diagnosis of long covids can be complicated
There are diagnostic tools to check for long covid symptoms, such as MRI scans for heart abnormalities. There are no tests that can diagnose the condition Or distinguish it from similar diseases, the CDC says.
As a result, people need to stay away from work, school or other responsibilities and endure numerous clinical tests and scans that are not only expensive, but also stressful and time-consuming. This is a broad exclusion process that prevents people from getting the help they need, Broad said.
Eye, intestine, and immune system clue
The current challenge is to find one or more biomarkers of genes, proteins, or other substances associated with a particular condition that will help diagnose long covid.
a Recover your research Released last year, routine lab tests, including 25 standard blood and urine tests, showed little difference in biomarkers, with or without previous symbiotic infections. Researchers concluded that these tests may not be useful in the diagnosis of long-term COVID.
Koralnik and his team recently discovered that people with long covids are reducing blood flow in small blood vessels in the retina. This reduced flow is thought to reduce blood circulation in and around the brain, and the small organelles called mitochondria, which convert oxygen into energy, are described as “toxic.”
This theory can explain why many people with long covid experience cognitive problems, fatigue and exercise intolerance, Coralnik said. Overall, the findings published in the Journal of Imaging in February are The retina can become a long covid biomarker.
Other studies suggest that biomarkers may be present in the gut and immune system, but Brode noted that these early findings are based on small groups of people and should be considered in salt grains.
As useful as diagnostic tests, experts say that for those with prolonged symptoms, some experts should not slow scientists in searching for long covid treatments.
Julia Moore Vogel, senior program director at Scripps Research, and Patient-led research cooperation Regarding long covid, he said that other conditions like migraines do not have reliable biomarkers or tests to confirm the diagnosis. Several drugs have been approved To handle it.
“I think we'll get there,” said Vogel, a long-distance runner before developing the long-time Covid in 2020. “But I personally don't think it should contain anything.”
Unfortunate advances in long covid treatments
The Food and Drug Administration has not approved treatments, particularly for long covids. Experts are not sure if they'll get it anytime soon.
“When I first got sick, I was OK, I had to survive for just three to five years. At least, I think I have options as I have decent symptom management trial data. But we've made little progress in treatment,” Vogel said. “There are currently promising research beginning, but it's not close to the amount that should be burdened by the disease.”
Most clinical trials test whether medications used to treat other conditions are useful for long-term COVID. For example, researchers at the University of British Columbia Low-dose naltrexone – Approved drugs for opioid and alcohol use disorders. The drug is thought to have anti-inflammatory and pain relief properties and is used off-label in people with fibromyalgia and ME/CFS, making it potential as a long-term symbiotic treatment.
Other drugs Barishinibapproved for treating rheumatoid arthritis and acute charlation, and Temelimabuexperimental drugs often administered to people with multiple sclerosis have also been investigated as potential long covid treatments.
Instead of a particular treatment, people with long covids must balance rest and activity in a strategy called pacing and undergo physical and cognitive behavioral therapy for further support. Many people will often rely on several drugs, including antiviral Paxlovid, to treat symptoms.
But realistically, “we may not actually have one silver bullet treatment,” says Alison Cohen, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who coexisted for three years for a long time. Cohen said that long covid will take a “multi-faceted approach” to take a “multi-faceted approach” in a very diverse way.
What will you do in the future for recovery?
As long as SARS-COV-2 continues to spread, everyone is at risk of a long Covid, Cohen said. And now, evidence shows that recovery from the condition is rare. A survey released last month found it Only about 6% of people with long covid recover According to Cohen, two years later. Covid vaccinations were associated with better long-term recovery, especially among those who won booster shots.
People who improve are experiencing many “ups and downs,” Coralnik said. “You need to expect a lot of collisions on the road.”
“Living with a long Covid is tiring,” Cohen said. “So for everyone who doesn't live with it, it's important to think about what we can do to support those who have them.”
In the meantime, clinical trials must be designed to accommodate and include the patients they intend, Vogel said. Many people are tied to their homes and beds and cannot travel due to the risk of multiple in-person visits or flare-ups of symptoms, she added. “There are too many things you can't know until you put them on the table,” she said.
Although we don't know when a long community community finally gets the answers and security they need, Vogel keeps her head high.
“We know we can do that. We are confident that a well-designed and well-tested exam will at least improve the quality of life. “But I can't think of any other way. I can't accept that this is for my life.”
Serhiihudak/ukrinform/future Publishing by Getty Images
Frequent blood donors may be gaining more than a warm, ambiguous feeling from altruism, as giving blood can increase their ability to produce healthy blood cells and potentially reduce the risk of developing blood cancer.
Hector Huerga Encabo The Francis Crick Institute in London and his colleagues analyzed genetic data extracted from blood cells donated from 217 German men aged 60 to 72 years old. They also looked at samples from 212 men of similar age who donated their blood less than 10 times and found that frequent donors were likely to have blood cells with specific mutations in the genes called. dnmt3a.
To understand this difference, the team added genetically engineered human blood stem cells that produce all blood cells in the body along with these mutations, along with unmodified cells, to the lab dish. To mimic the effects of blood donation, they also added a hormone called EPO. This was the body produced it later and added it to part of the dish.
After 1 month, cells with frequent donor mutations grew 50% faster than cells without mutations, but only in dishes containing EPO. Without this hormone, both cell types would have grown at similar rates.
“It suggests that all blood donation, you have a burst of EPO in your system, and this will support the growth of these cells dnmt3a Mutations,” Encabo says.
To investigate whether it would be beneficial to enable more effectiveness of these mutated blood cells, the team mixed with cells with mutations that cause the risk of leukemia, and again discovered that in the presence of EPO, frequent don cells can effectively lay other blood cells. this is, dnmt3a Mutations are beneficial and may inhibit cancer cell growth, Encabo said.
“It appears that blood donations provide selection pressure to improve stem cell fitness and capacity to fill up.” Ash Toy At the University of Bristol, UK. “It may not only save someone’s life, it may also increase fitness in the blood system.”
I say it needs more work to see if this is really true Markman Soor University College London provides a very simplified picture of what happens in the body of a lab experiment. “This should be examined across much larger cohorts, different ethnicities, women and other age groups,” Mansour says. He also points out that there is no donor. dnmt3a Mutations may not see this benefit.
Apple’s most affordable new smartphone is the iPhone 16E, which provides a basic, up-to-date iPhone experience with the latest chips and AI features, albeit slightly fewer than the other models.
Priced at £599 (699 Euros/$599/$999), the iPhone 16E is the spiritual successor to the iPhone SE line. While the iPhone SE retains the old-school thick design with a home button, the 16E features an iPhone 14 body with an iPhone 16 chip at a cost of £799.
In essence, the 16E boasts a full-screen design and an aluminum body. It was impressive for the iPhone 14, but it still holds up well today. The phone is lightweight and relatively compact. The 6.1-inch OLED screen is sizable and suitable for most tasks, although it falls short of the standard iPhone 16’s brightness.
The 16E retains the old-style face ID notch at the top of the screen instead of the new “Dynamic Island” used in the recent iPhone lineup. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
Available only in black or white, the 16E features a convenient action button to replace the mute switch on older iPhones, but lacks a camera control button found in the rest of the iPhone 16 line.
The entire 16E comprises slight compromises compared to the standard iPhone 16 experience. It includes the iPhone’s first new, power-efficient Apple 5G modem, but only supports WiFi 6, not the latest WiFi 7. It lacks Thread Ultra Wideband Radio, the latter being used for Apple’s Discovering the Accuracy of Lost Items and other systems.
Action buttons can be used to replace the mute switch on your old iPhone, activate the torch, or access the camera and other features. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
In a new laboratory experiment, scientists at the University of Southern California showed that when mice encountered a social partner familiar with the unconscious state caused by anesthesia, they escalated to powerful behaviors such as biting or pulling their partner’s mouth and tongue, showing clear and consistent behavior.
Mice have their own “first aid” practices to help other mice in need. Image credits: Sun et al. , doi: 10.1126/science.adq2677.
“There are many factors that determine mammals’ empathy and social bonds,” says Professor Li Zhang, a researcher at the University of Southern California.
“However, this is the first time this study has seen first responder-like behavior in mice.”
New research shows that mice tend to help other mice they know to be unconscious.
Their responses range from mild sniffing and grooming to more powerful actions such as mouth and tongue biting, and eventually escalates to pulling the tongue out of the unconscious mouse.
“The behavior was particularly unique because it was similar to how humans behave in emergency responses. Dr. Wenzian Sang, PhD of the University of Southern California, said:
Interestingly, scientists were first witnessed rehabilitation behavior in mice paired together in an unrelated study.
When humans encounter unconscious individuals, emergency response changes, such as assessing the situation, checking for responsiveness, seeking help and performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for the individual.
The urgent “helper mice” target the unconscious companion’s mouth and tongue appears to improve their companion’s airways and lead to faster recovery,” said Huizhong Tao, professor at the University of Southern California.
“We learned in this study that tongue pulling between mice cannot be interpreted as an offensive gesture.”
“Social behavior in this study was significantly more pronounced among familiar mouse pairs, and was rarely seen when one of the paired mice was simply sleeping or active.”
“And also, after the unconscious mice regained consciousness, they regularly used their tongues.”
In this study, the authors utilized advanced neuroimaging and optogenetics to investigate the neural mechanisms behind social behavior in helper mice.
“One of the most interesting aspects of our neurologic observations was the discovery of the activation of oxytocin neuropeptides,” Professor Chan said.
“Oxytocin is widely known as a hormone that plays an important role in social bonds.”
“Oxytocin is sometimes called love hormone because it is linked to trust, bonding and affection.”
“This was the first study showing that oxytocin is an important factor in social ties in mice.”
“Our findings not only enhance our understanding of animal behavior, they also highlight the important role of the oxytocin system.
result It will be displayed in the journal Science.
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Wenjian Sang et al. 2025. Prosocial behaviors like resurrection in response to the unconscious or dead homologue of rodents. Science 387 (6736); doi:10.1126/science.adq2677
The ARP 105 features star and gas tide tails that exceed 362,000 light years.
The elliptical galaxy NGC 3561B (top left) and the Spiral Galaxy NGC 3561A (bottom right) form the ongoing merger-sparking guitar shapes known comprehensively as ARP.
ARP 105 It is located approximately 400 million light years from Earth, in the constellation of Ursa major.
Also known as NGC 3561, it was discovered by British astronomer John Herschel on March 30, 1827.
It consists of two huge galaxies, the elliptical galaxy NGC 3561B and the Spiral Galaxy NGC 3561A.
“The ARP 105 is one of the brightest objects in the busy Galaxy Cluster Abell 1185,” Hubble Astronomers said in a statement.
“Abell 1185 is a chaotic cluster of at least 82 galaxies, many of which are not only interacting, but many wandering spherical clusters that are not gravity attached to a particular galaxy.”
The gravity dance between the NGC 3561B and NGC 3561A creates the features of an attractive collision galaxy.
“The giant tail is drawn from two galaxies by gravity interaction, embedding a cluster of stars and a galaxy of d star,” the astronomer said.
“The uniquely shaped arrangement of the galaxy and tail gives the grouping the nickname: guitar.”
“The long lanes of dark dust emerging from the NGC 3561b oval galaxy may be ingesting the bright blue region of star-forming at the bottom of the guitar known as Ambartsumian's Knot.”
“Ambartsumian's Knot is a tidal star galaxy. It is a type of star-forming system that develops from fragments of the tidal arms of interacting galaxies.”
“The two bright blue regions of star formation are evident in Hubble images at the edge of a distorted helical galaxy.”
“The region on the left of the spiral galaxy may be very similar to the knot of Ambartumian, the knot of intense star-forming knot caused by the merger.”
“The area on the right is still under investigation. It may be part of the collision, but its velocity and spectral data are different from the rest of the system, so it could be a galaxy in the foreground.”
“The thin, faint gas tips are barely visible that stretch between two galaxies.”
“These tendrils are of particular interest to astronomers as they may help define the timescale of this collision evolution.”
Paleontologists working in northern Patagonia, Argentina, have excavated fossils of a small Rinconsaurus titanosaurus, a previously unknown species.
Chadititan Kalboy. Image credit: Gabriel Rio.
The newly discovered dinosaurs roamed the globe during the late Cretaceous period, about 78 million years ago.
It has been named Chadititan Kalboythe ancient species belong to the Argentine Titanosaurus group Rinconsora.
“Rinconsen Auria was first established in 2007 with the aim of incorporating the genus. Rinconsaurus and Muirensaur“The “Bernardino Rivadavia” of Argentino de Ciencias Natures and the “Felix de Azara” of Fandacion de Historia Natural, said Dr. Federico Agnolin, a fellow paleontologist.
“This clade contains a tiny Titanosaurus, elongated, lightly constructed – less than 11 m in length.
According to researchers, Chadititan Kalboy It was a very small, Rinconsaurus Titanosaurus constructed of gracyl.
“Compared to the length of the femur Bonatitanestimated body length Chadititan It could be estimated to be about 7 m in length,” they said.
“The new Titanosaurus shows that the Rinconsau factions are characterized by a different physique than other Titanosaurus.
Fossilized bones from several individuals Chadititan Kalboy Fossils found in new areas of Analecto Layer Near General Roca City in the Rio Negro province of Argentina.
“The new area is located within Marine Family Farm, close to the Pasocordoba area, 10km southwest of the city of Loca,” the scientist said.
“The area consists of scattered bad lands and low hills separating the eastern edge of the lowlands of “Salinity Moreno.” ”
“They produced numerous fossil specimens despite their relatively small outcrop size.”
“It's worth mentioning that there is no single osteoderm from Chadititan Kalboy It was discovered in this area,” they added.
“We can assume that these Titanosaurs are absent because no osteoderms were found in connection with other Rinconsenserurs.”
In addition to Chadititan Kalboythe authors unearthed new assemblages of invertebrates and vertebrate fossils.
The collection includes gulfish, lungfish, turtles, crocodile parents, dinosaurs, snails and beetles deposited in small ponds surrounded by dunes and palm trees.
The team revealed the first fossil record of Neocyclotidae (a family of tropical land snails) and the first incontroversial record of Sabrinid genus Reptinariaa kind of small tropical air-breathing land snail.
“In addition to ” Chadititan KalboyFossils identifying mollusks, fish and turtles enrich our understanding of this ancient ecosystem and expand our knowledge of life in Patagonia near the end of the dinosaur era.”
“Just looking at the presence or absence of species in the area can suggest what makes the environment unique.”
“In this case, the rarity of turtle-rich turtles and crocodiles compared to regions in Europe and North America during this period further emphasizes how Patagonia's ecosystems differ when the continent drifted during the Cretaceous period.”
“One of the most prominent aspects of the discovered fauna is its overwhelming freshwater turtle abundance, accounting for more than 90% of the recovered fossils.”
“This high proportion is very rare. Turtles rarely make up more than 50% of fauna, like in joint locales in North America and Europe,” added Dr. Agnolin.
Team's paper Published in the journal Revista Del Museo Argentino Ciencias Naturales.
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Federico L. Agnoline et al. 2024. A description of a new fossil region from the Anagre Formation (Late Cretaceous, Campanian) from northern Patagonia, a new Titanosaurus. Pastor Argentina cienc. nut 26(2): 217-259; doi: 10.22179/revmacn.26.885
Donald Trump stated on Sunday that negotiations are ongoing with four interested parties looking to acquire TikTok, and the Chinese-owned app is facing an uncertain future in the United States.
According to U.S. law, TikTok was mandated to be sold by its Chinese owner or face a ban in the country. When asked about the possibility of a deal on Sunday, Trump told reporters, “It could happen.”
“We are in discussions with four different groups, and there is significant interest, ultimately the decision lies with me,” he said aboard Air Force 1.
“All four potential buyers are reputable,” he added.
The TikTok ban came into effect on January 19th due to concerns that the Chinese government could potentially exploit the video-sharing platform to spy on Americans and manipulate public opinion.
TikTok was temporarily removed from the U.S. market and disappeared from app stores as the legal deadline approached, leaving millions of users disappointed. Trump paused the ban two and a half months after starting his second term in January, seeking a resolution with Beijing. TikTok later resumed its operations in the U.S. and returned to the Apple and Google App Stores in February.
Among the potential TikTok buyers is an initiative called “The People’s Bid for TikTok,” spearheaded by real estate and sports mogul Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty Initiative. Another interested group includes Microsoft, Oracle, and internet personality MrBeast, also known as Jimmy Donaldson.
TikTok does not appear to be in a rush to sell its platform.
Physicists have long known that electrons can form vortices from quantum materials. What's new is evidence that these small particles create tornado-like structures in momentum space.
In quantum materials called Tantalum harsenide (TAAS), electrons form vortices in momentum space. Image credits: Think-Design / Jochen Thamm.
Momentum space is a fundamental physics concept that explains electron motion in terms of energy and orientation rather than precise physical location.
The counterpart, the position space, is an area where familiar phenomena such as water vortices and hurricanes occur.
Until now, even quantum vortices of materials have been observed only in positional space.
Eight years ago, Dr. Roderrich Mossner of the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems and the Excellence ct.qmat of the Würzburg Denden cluster theorized that quantum tornadoes could also form in momentum spaces.
At the time, he described this phenomenon as a smoke ring. Because, like a ring of smoke, it is made up of vortices.
But up until now, no one knew how to measure them.
To detect quantum tornadoes in momentum space, Dr. Moessner and colleagues have enhanced a well-known technique called ARPES (angle-resolved light emission spectroscopy).
“ARPES is a fundamental tool in experimental solid-state physics,” explained Dr. Maximilian ünzelmann, researcher at the University of Werzburg, the experimental Physik VII and the Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence Cluster.
“It involves shining light on a material sample, extracting electrons, and measuring energy and outlet angles.”
“This allows us to see the electronic structure of the material directly in the momentum space.”
“By skillfully adapting this method, we were able to measure orbital angular momentum.”
Team's work It will be displayed in the journal Physics Review x.
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T. figgemeier et al. 2025. Imaging of orbital vortex lines in three-dimensional momentum space. Phys. Rev. X 15, 011032; doi:10.1103/physrevx.15.011032
Elon Musk stated on Monday that X was hit by a “massive cyberattack,” causing intermittent service disruptions that affected social media networks throughout the day. The platform, formerly known as Twitter, was unresponsive for many users as posts failed to load.
“We face attacks every day, but this one was well-resourced,” said the platform’s CEO. He posted, “Large, coordinated groups and/or countries are involved.”
Down detector, a website monitoring for outages, showed a spike in thousands of outage reports around 5:45 am on various platforms. Another surge in reported outages occurred around noon, with most issues happening on the company’s mobile app. Tweets that failed to display showed a “something went wrong” message prompting users to try reloading.
The world’s richest man did not provide evidence for his claim. His statements were in response to cryptocurrency influencers suggesting a pause following other resistance to Musk’s ventures. Protests against the “Ministry of Government Efficiency” initiative resulted in vandalism against Musk’s leadership and Tesla dealers in the previous week.
The CEO of SpaceX, who acquired Twitter for $44 billion in 2022, alleged that the previous platform outage was due to a cyberattack. Musk previously claimed a “massive DDOS attack” caused the crash of his live-streamed interview with Donald Trump last year, although company sources later told The Verge there was no attack.
The X outage adds to the challenges facing Musk’s businesses and initiatives. A SpaceX rocket exploded in flight near the Bahamas on Friday, scattering debris. “Tesla Takedown” protests across the nation targeted Tesla dealers, with owners selling vehicles, and the company’s stock prices hitting a low on Monday. Trump also had a heated meeting with Musk and his Cabinet Secretary, hinting at curbing Musk’s influence against government officials who fired many from various agencies.
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have produced the epic image of the Spiral Galaxy NGC 4900.
This Hubble image shows the NGC 4900, a spiral galaxy about 45 million light years away in the Virgo constellations. Image credits: NASA/ESA/Hubble/SJ Smartt/C. Kilpatrick.
NGC 4900 It is about 45 million light years away from the Virgo constellations.
Also known as the Leda 44797 or IRAS 12580+0246, this Spiral Galaxy has 66,000 light years.
The NGC 4900 was discovered by German and British astronomer William Herschel on April 30, 1786.
Galaxy is a member of the NGC 4753 group and a member of the Virgo II group.
“The data are more than 20 years apart in two different observational programs. This is a true testament to Hubble's long scientific life,” said the Hubble astronomer.
“Both programs aimed to understand the end of a giant star.”
“For one, researchers were aiming to study the locations of past supernovaes, estimate the masses of the exploded stars, and investigate how the supernova interacts with their surroundings.”
“NGC 4900 was selected for research because it hosted a named supernova SN 1999BR. ”
“In other programs, researchers have laid the foundation for studying future supernovaes by collecting images of more than 150 nearby galaxies.”
“After a supernova is detected in any of these galaxies, researchers can look up these images and search for stars at the supernova location.”
“Identifying supernova progenitor stars in pre-explosion images gives valuable information about how, when, and why supernovae occur.”
But since then, the tech giant has been increasingly burning from researchers who say it’s not doing something of a kind. “My impression is that the response of the expert physics community is overwhelmingly negative. Personally, people are just furious.” Sergei Frolov at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Microsoft’s claim is based on an elusive, exotic quasiparticle called Majorana Zero Modes (MZMS). These can theoretically be used to create topological kibits, new types of qubits, i.e. components of information processing within quantum computers. Due to their unique properties, such qubits can be excellent at reducing errors and can address the major drawbacks of all quantum computers used today.
MZM is theorized to emerge from the collective behavior of electrons at the edges of thin superconducting wires. Microsoft’s new Majorana 1 chip contains some such wires, and according to the company it contains enough MZM to create eight topological maize. A Microsoft spokesperson said New Scientist Chip was a “big breakthrough for us and the industry.”
However, researchers say Microsoft does not provide sufficient evidence to support these claims. In addition to the press release, the company published its paper in the journal Nature He said the results confirmed the results. ” Nature The papermark shows a peer-reviewed confirmation that not only did Microsoft have been able to create majorana particles, but it also helps protect quantum information from random interference, but also allows for reliable measurement of information from that information. A Microsoft press release said.
But the editor Nature It explicitly made it clear that this statement was incorrect. A published report on the Peer-Review process states, “The editorial team wants to point out that the results of this manuscript do not represent evidence of the existence of Majorana Zero Mode in the device on which it was reported.”
In other words, Microsoft and Nature They are directly contradictory to each other. “The press release says something completely different [than the Nature paper]” I say Henry Legg At St Andrews University, UK.
This is not just an unorthodox aspect of Microsoft’s papers. Legg points out that two of the four peer reviewers initially gave rather critical and negative feedback. The peer review report shows that by the final round of editing, one reviewer still opposed the publication of the paper, and three others registered with it. spokesman for Nature I said New Scientist The ultimate decision to publish it came down to the possibilities we saw for future experiments with MZM on Microsoft devices.
Also, one of the reviewers is rare. Hao Chang Legg says that at China’s University of Tsingea, previously collaborated on MICSOFT and MZM research. The work published in Nature In 2018, it was later withdrawn, and the team apologized, “.” Scientific rigor is insufficient” After other researchers have identified inconsistencies in the results. “That’s very shocking Nature You can choose the judge who retracted the paper just a few years ago,” says Legg.
Chang says there was no conflict of interest. “I wasn’t an employee at Microsoft either. [the firm]. Of the more than 100 authors of Microsoft Paper recently, I have worked with three before,” he says. “It was seven years ago, but back then they were Tu Delft students. [in the Netherlands]not an employee of Microsoft. “
Microsoft says the team wasn’t involved in the selection of reviewers and was not aware of Zhang’s participation until the review process was completed. Nature The decision was based on a spokesman who said, “The quality of the advice received can be seen from the reviewer’s comments.”
Looking at the issue, both Leg and Frolov are making more fundamental challenges to Microsoft’s methodology. Experiments using MZM have proven extremely difficult to perform over the past decades. This is because imperfections and obstacles within the device can produce false signals that mimic quasiparticles even if they are not present. This was a challenge for researchers related to Microsoft, including the withdrawn 2018 paper. The withdrawal notice explicitly refers to new insights into the impact of the failure. To address this, Microsoft has been working on 2023. The procedure has been published in the journal Physical Review b It was called the “Topology Gap Protocol” and claimed to tease these differences.
“The whole idea of this protocol was that it was a binary test of whether Mallorna is there,” says Legg. His Unique analysis of code and data However, Microsoft implemented the protocol in 2023, which showed that it was less reliable than expected and changing the format of the data is sufficient to turn the failure into a path. Legg says he raised these issues with Microsoft before its publication. Nature Paper, yet the company was using protocols in new research.
NatureA spokesman for the journal’s editorial team “are aware that some people are questioning the effectiveness of the topology gap protocol used.” Nature Paper and other publications. This was an issue that we were also aware of during the peer review process. “Through the process, the reviewer determined that this was not an important issue at the end of the day, the spokesman said.
Microsoft says it will respond to leg analysis of the 2023 paper. Physics Review B. “Criticism can be summarised as a leg that will build a false strooger for our paper and attack it,” said Microsoft’s Chetan Nayak. He challenged some points to Legg’s work, saying that the 2023 paper “showed that we can confidently create topology phases and Mayorana Zero modes,” and the new paper only strengthens those claims.
A Microsoft spokesperson said: Nature The paper was submitted for review and the company built on its confidence and not only created multi-kut chips, but also tested how to operate these kitz as needed for a working topological quantum computer. The company will release more details at the American Physics Society’s Global Physics Summit in March, the spokesman said. “We look forward to sharing our results and transforming our 20+ year vision of quantum computing into a concrete reality, along with the additional data behind science.”
But for Frolov, the assertion that incomplete results from the past can be ignored as the company is trying to build a more sophisticated device lies in false logic. Legg shares this view. “The fundamental issues of obstacles and materials science don’t go away just because we start manufacturing more fancy devices,” he says.
a
The skeleton is at the center of the T. So, that’s because of Joyce Carroll Oates’s online infamy. In 2021, the award-winning novelist provided her most important contribution to literature: Diabolical Tweet anti-minating about existentialism in Halloween.
(You can always recognize places where no one feels or feels sad for the lost loved one and death, the one who dies, and the person who likes to break down into bones is just a joke.) https://t.co/1OuMqgw550
For beginners, the 86-year-old five-time Pulitzer finalist used the platform on X (formerly Twitter) to share photos of impressive American-style Halloween ornaments featuring dozens of plastic skeletons climbing the front of the house. “You can always recognize a place where no one has experienced much grief for a lost loved one,” she wrote. “Everyone who likes to break it down into bones is kidding.”
This unique take on Halloween tradition was filled with some kind of confused online glee. In an increasingly polarized political world, we rarely encounter such injustice and strong opinions. There is no culture war, nor popular discourse, Just a thought From Zeus’ forehead it turned like Athena. Or a creepy ghost who pops out at you in a haunted house – you shouldn’t be kidding about it.
However, this is not just a one-off phenomenon. In fact, this is one example of a bewildering array of classic Joyce Carroll Oats tweets. This makes another addition to her trophy shelf an attractive case. Winner of the Poet Award on Social Media. I’m not mean here. I really love her tweets and they are one of the only things that bring joy to me on the Nazi awarded platforms rapidly. As Twitter user Kaitlin Ruiz puts, “She doesn’t need to answer specialization. Oracles don’t see consistency.”
It is important to understand that Joyce Carroll Oates has definitive opinions on trance rights (good!) and dinosaur poaching (bad!), skeletons (worrisome!). She doesn’t need to answer any specialties. Oracles are not consistent.
Oates is a prolific writer in all aspects of her life. She published 58 novels, and more importantly, she wrote 170k tweets. Her targets are wide and abundant. There’s a political view: dozens of tweets a day Harris v Trump and Israel’s war with Gaza. She was one day outright about trans rights and wrote about it JD Vance’s other small eyes – But she is also not afraid to challenge a whimsical world. Her cat is pondering the problem with the trolley.
The point is that she posts frequently without agenda to sell anything and has seemingly embarrassing honesty. In an interview, she rejected the medium “It was short-lived and quickly forgotten.”. However, she feels her relationship with the platform is pure. How to use Twitter.
The unexamined premise of the “trolley problem” is that individuals, as we know, do not have any kind of subjective tendencies, including the Catnip’s drunkenness, the philosophers who have lived in the past, not subjective preferences/unconscious motives/free philosophers. You kill the poor… https://t.co/gze1kcjzyw
– Joyce Carol Oats (@joycecaroloates) May 27, 2024
All thoughts come directly from her huge creative brain, from the online farm to the table. “What we’ve heard about ISIS is pure and punitive. Is there anything fun to celebrate?” She asked in 2015. “Are there any examples of women getting obsessed with historical events?” She meditated in 2023. Then there was a time when she posted a really conflicting photo of her Infected feet online.
fOr, for many years, double roles have been played primarily for laughs. Think of Jack and Jill’s Adam Sandler’s Razzy Sweep Twin Turn, or Lisa Kudrow as both friends Phoebe and Ursula Buffay. Eddie Murphy has always been particularly prolific, and his most numerous performances as the clutch of clamps for Professor II of Nuts.
Of course, there are exceptions. But all legends and fame have Austin’s Powers, Bowfinger and – trembling turbit. But this year, we are giving us a more dramatic kind of overlap. Robert De Niro took a double dong job with the Alto Knights, Michael B. Jordan played twin leads in the supernatural sinner, and the pair of Robert Pattinson clones currently finds Bong Jun-ho’s Mickey 17.
And there’s more. Monkey provided horror with Theo James’ two bloody scoops. Zac Efron recently wrapped up an A24 thriller playing both a stalker and a superstar. Recently at Sundance, Dylan O’Brien played twin brothers in the dark comic drama Twinless. So, even if you ignore the genre of the film, it’s a noticeable surge in viewers who still watch the double. So why now? And how do these seemingly impossible shots come true?
“For years, filmmakers have been able to use a variety of techniques to show the actors multiple times in the same scene,” says Daniel Harrington, a London-based VFX artist and compositor. “In the parent’s trap, the split screen allowed the same actor to occupy both sides of the frame, while the social network used motion controls to portray the Winkleboss twins by repeating precise camera movements.”
However, before you tackle the technology, there is a brief history of dual roles. Because the concept is almost as old as the film itself. In 1898, pioneer Georges Méliès had already double-exposed to capture the portrait twice within the same frame. His methods jumped to feature films in 1917 when actor William Farnham performed on opposite sides of himself in Dickens’s two city tales adaptation.
The following year, Mary Pickford played dual roles in Stella Maris using new split screen technology that has been used for decades in films such as Deadlinger, Adaptation, and Double Impact of Jean-Claude Van Dam’s Asquado-Shooded Ask Ask. Altonite, more than a century later, uses similar techniques to double De Niro in a particular scene.
But today, split screening is just one of many tools in the dual-roll toybox. The most notable advance in this field was released in 1989 on the commission of future Part II and Director Robert Zemeckis’ Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) to create a vistaglide and create a motion-controlled camera dolly system for the robot.
This remains the most popular dual-roll method, Harrington says. Several mats (the individual shots that make up the final frame) are filmed with the same actor playing separate parts. This footage is then delivered to the rotoscope and paint artists. Rotoscopes and paint artists task by clearing the edges of the raw mats and then stitching the composite together into one seamless whole.
“Ultimately, the success of the fantasy depends on the synergy between onset preparation and post-production artistry,” says Harrington. “Digital effects can be increasingly refined, but when built on a strong practical foundation, they are still the most effective. Therefore, on set, consistent lighting, accurate framing, and stand-in are important to ensure seamless synthesis later. Without these elements, even the most sophisticated digital tools will struggle to create compelling results. It is teamwork, exemplified not only by films but also by television series such as Orphan Black.”
The small screen certainly earned the rewards for these technological advancements. 2025 will also be your final season, where you can also watch Netflix’s debut Twin Jamie Dornans at Underto and Twin Anna Camp. Malaki Kirby doubles for the Anansi boys on Prime Video, while Cynthia Eribo plays the same sexturette as Leanne Johnson’s poker face returns to Peacock. “And we are not solely responsible for breakthroughs, though [for this increase in dual roles]”Recent developments in AI-driven deepfakes and performance cloning have significantly reduced costs and increased production times,” says Harrington.
This deepfake method of swapping faces (Robert Pattinson’s face was digitally ported to replace Mickey 17) was another ILM gimmick developed for the 1993 Jurassic Park. Oscar-nominated VFX supervisor Theo Jones works at Framestore, a studio that worked on many of Joon-Ho’s latest products. And while Jones doesn’t think there’s a single catalyst for the current moment of a dual-roll project, “it’s probably a kind of happy accident,” he says.
Poker face Cynthia Eribo and Natasharillon
Photo: Peacock
“It wasn’t Option 10, and probably not even five years ago,” says Jones. “But even this is not optimal for dual roles. You will need to find someone with similar features and proportions. Baseline performances will come from the stand-in rather than the actor. What’s more, “Off-the-Peg” deepfake technology certainly doesn’t suit IMAX quality at the moment, so VFX work is necessary to be trusted. ”
The Framestore, revealed by Jones, states that it has developed its own “neural face rendering technology” called Facade. “But for a purely dramatic moment,” he adds. “It would be much better to use practical techniques for filming and post-production modifications to make the finished photos seamless with post-production modifications. This may include rewriting the VFX rulebook, and sometimes using techniques that exist before computers become part of filmmaking.”
It’s a great way to approach the art of dual roles. Because whether it’s an actor attracted to creative challenges or a filmmaker trying to advance the technical aspects of his craft, these twin turns have always been a joint effort. By continuing to blend old and new techniques, viewers will not only guarantee performances that dodge envelopes, but the entire concept of dual roles will remain true to its innate patchwork nature.
microsoft announced Sunset Skype on the last day of February. By the time Death Knell paid, the video chat software that once revolutionized communications has become a ghost of its former self. Experts yelled half-baked tributes for the platform Microsoft has spent years neglecting, but few were surprised.
“The fact that Skype has been integrated into other Microsoft platforms, and that it has been redesigned to resemble other Microsoft Solutions, or included in user bundled commercial products, also clearly shows that Microsoft has long decided to discontinue the service despite user losses.”University of London.
But for long-awaited users of Skype, and those who have stopped it, yet still thought it was nostalgia, the coming end of Skype, which will be closed on May 5th, is a moment worthy of approval. Skype was a reminder of a bygone era and a source of inspiration for many. When there were few affordable means of making international appeals, it promoted relations across the ocean.
One nostalgic Guardian leader composed the song based on the familiar Skype ring. Michael Frischkop, professor at the University of Albert School of Music and director of the Canadian Centre for Ethnomusicology, created a Skype theme song and a short symphony in 2020. “It was originally for film scores (although it was never used that way),” Frishkopf wrote in an email.
“Skype has always been a tool to connect from isolation and it surprised me that many people probably associate it with being far from their loved ones,” Frishkopf said. “That Skype ringtone, I don't know who made it, but it has a kind of oddity. It can go either way, major or minor, either way. Likewise, it may sound happy or sad. It can represent sadness that longs for someone and the joy that connects with them. [Skype] It can cause a sense of loss for people because it is permanently declining.”
Skyping (orchestra)
Michael Frishkopf
Sorry, the browser does not support audio, but download it here to $https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2025/03/05/skyping_(orchestral)_-_ composed_by_michael_frishkopf.mp3
Inspired by Frishkopf's email, the Guardian asked readers to share their Skype memories. What they explained in touch with the tribute was technology that allowed parents to connect with their children, and startup founders to communicate across the ocean and the time zone, allowing two proposals.
Melanie Hegger. Photo: Melany Heger
A mother at home who has found a new career
I used Skype extensively as a way to contact clients when I had an intermediate career shift. It was 2019 and I started working again. I spent 10 years as a full-time mom. Before I started working online, I felt it was impossible to work and stay home for my kids. I can say that Skype has opened up a world of possibilities for me.
– Melanie Heger of Manila, Philippines
A couple that I proposed to date on Skype
Holly and her husband's wedding band Photo: Holly
I proposed to my Swedish husband and to my Swedish husband using sticky notes. We got married on 5-5-15. Skype will terminate the service on the same day. It's so sad, I especially liked it because it was from my husband's hometown Sweden. Skype played a major role in our lives to maintain our connections while we were dating.
I'Looking at artificial intelligence and ordering my groceries. Armed with my shopping list, enter each item into the search bar of the supermarket website, then click using your cursor. When you see what looks like a digital ghost, this is usually a mundane task that is mysteriously fixed. “Are you not just Indians?” my husband asks, peering over my shoulder.
I'm trying operatorOpenai's new AI “agent” is the manufacturer of ChatGpt. It was made available to UK users last month and has a similar text interface and conversation tone as ChatGpt, but rather than answering questions, it actually does do Things – if they involve navigating a web browser.
Soon after the large language model, AI agents are trumpeted as the next big thing, and you can see the appeal. Similar to Openai's offering, humanity introduced the “computer use” feature in Claude Chatbot towards the end of last year. Perplexity and Google have also released the “agent” feature for AI assistants, with more companies developing agents targeting specific tasks such as coding and research.
While there is debate about what is accurately counted as an AI agent, the general idea is that you need to be able to take action with a certain degree of autonomy. “As soon as you start performing an action outside the chat window, you'll be an agent from a chatbot,” says Margaret Mitchell, a leading ethics scientist at AI Company.
It's early. Most commercial agents still come with experimental disclaimers. Openai describes the operator as a “research preview.” Dozen eggs $31 Or you're trying to Return the groceries to the store They bought them. Depending on who you ask, agents are just the dawn of the future of AI that can shake up the next exaggerated high-tech or labor, rebuild the internet and change our lives.
“In principle, they're amazing because they can automate many drunk people,” says Gary Marcus, a scientist and skeptical linguistic model scientist at large. “But I don't think they'll work anytime soon, and it's partly an investment in hype.”
I sign up to the operator to see for myself. Grocery shopping seems like a good first job as there is no food at home. Once you enter your request, you will be asked if there is a shop or brand you like. I tell them to go with the cheapest person. A window will appear to display your web browser and search for “UK Online Grocery Delivery.” The mouse cursor selects the first result: ocado. Starts searching for requested items and filters the results by price. Select the product and click Add to trolley.
I was impressed by the operator's initiative. If only a description of a simple item such as “salmon” or “chicken” is given, it doesn't ask me any questions. Searching for eggs will help you pass through several non-egg items that appear as special offers. My list is looking for “several different vegetables.” Choose a broccoli head and ask if you want something else specific. I tell them to choose two more, and it goes for carrots and leeks – perhaps I chose myself. Encourage me, I ask you to add “sweet sweets” and literally watch as you type “sweet snacks” into the search bar. I don't know why I'm choosing 70% chocolate, but certainly not the cheapest option, but I don't like dark chocolate and I'll trade it for a Galaxy Bar.
Thomas Dohmke is the head of Github, which develops with an autonomous coding assistant called Project Padawan. Photo: DPA Picture Alliance/Alamy
When the operator realized that there was a minimum spend on Ocado, we bumped into a scratch. So, add more items to the list. You will then be logged in and the agent will encourage you to intervene. While users can take over the browser at any point in time, Openai says operators are designed to require “when entering sensitive information into the browser, such as login credentials and payment information.” Operators usually take constant screenshots to “see” what it is doing, but Openai says that they don't do this when the user controls it.
At checkout, you will be asked to complete the payment and test the water. But when I respond by asking for details of my card, I get the reins back. I have already provided Openai with payment info (operators need a ChatGPT Pro account that costs $200 a month), but I find it uncomfortable to share this directly with AI. I've ordered it and waited for next day delivery. But it doesn't solve dinner. Give the operator a new task. Can I order a cheeseburger and chips from a local highly rated restaurant? It asks for my postcode and then loads the Derveoo website and searches for “Cheeseburger”. Again, there is a pause when you need to log in, but Derveoo already stores the card details, so the operator can proceed to pay directly.
The restaurant it chooses is local and highly rated as a fish and chip shop. I'll end up with a big bag of total cheeseburger and chippy style chips. It's not what I imagined, but it's not I'm wrongeither. However, I am regretted when I realized that the operator was skipping the delivery rider conversion. I secretly take my food and add generous tips after the fact.
Of course, seeing operators hold actions will beat the time saving points of using AI agents for online tasks. Instead, you can keep it working in the background, focusing on other tabs. While drafting this piece, I make another request: Can it be booked for gel nail polish at a local salon?
Operators are struggling with this task more. I go to Frasha, a beauty booking platform, but when I was prompted to log in, I find myself choosing to book an hour or more by car, a week behind my house in East London. I point out these issues and it finds a slot for the right date, but it's still far away from Leicester Square. Only then will it ask my location and I recognize that it should not retain this knowledge between tasks. By this point I might have already booked my own. The operator will ultimately propose a proper appointment, but I will abandon the task and choke it up as a team human victory.
AI Shopping Assistants need to pause and human input when logging in to supermarket websites or making payments online. Photo: Marco Marca/Getty Images
It is clear that this first generation AI agent has limitations. It requires a considerable amount of human monitoring to stop and log in. However, operators store cookies so that users can continue to log in to the website on subsequent visits (Openai requires closer supervision on “particularly sensitive” sites, such as email clients and financial services). The results are usually accurate, but not necessarily my own. When my groceries arrived, I see that the operator ordered smoked salmon rather than fillets, and was twice as many with yogurt as a special offer. I interpreted “some fish cakes” as 3 packs (I intended only one), and saved the insult of buying chocolate milk instead of plain because the product was out of stock. To be fair to the bots, I had the opportunity to review the order. You will get better results if you get more specific at the prompt (“Pack of two raw salmon fillets”), but these additional steps will also undermine the saved effort.
Despite the current flaws, my experience with the operator feels like a glimpse of what's coming. As such systems improved and reduced costs, I was able to easily see them embedded in everyday life. You may already have written your shopping list on the app. Why doesn't it place an order? Agents also permeate workflows beyond the realm of personal assistants. Openai CEO Sam Altman predicts that AI agents will be able to “join the workforce” this year.
Software developers are one of the early adopters. Coding Platform Github Recently added agent features For AI Copilot tools. Github CEO Thomas Dohmke says developers are used to some degree of automated assistance. The difference between AI agents is the level of autonomy. “Not only gives the answer by asking a question, but you'll have a problem and then repeat it with the code you can access,” he says.
GitHub is already working on a more autonomous agent called Project Padawan ( Star Wars (a term used to refer to Jedi apprentice). This allows AI agents to work asynchronously rather than requiring constant monitoring. Developers can report the agent's team to them and write code for review. Dohmke says he doesn't think the developer's work is at risk. “I argue that the amount of work that AI has added to most developers' backlogs is higher than the amount of work it takes over,” he says. Agents can also create coding tasks that are more accessible to non-technical people, such as building apps.
AI company Margaret Mitchell warns against the development of fully autonomous agents. Photo: Bloomberg/Getty Images
Outside of software development, Dohmke envisions a future where everyone has their own personal Jarvis. Iron Man. Your agent will learn your habits and be customized to your tastes, making it more convenient. He used him to book holidays for his family.
But more autonomous agents have greater risks than they pose. Mitchell, from her hugging face, I co-authored the paper Warning against the development of fully autonomous agents. “Completely autonomously means that human control has been completely transferred,” she says. Rather than working within a set boundary, an agent that is completely autonomous can access things that don't notice or work in unexpected ways, especially if they can write their own code. If your AI agent makes a mistake in ordering takeout, that's not a big deal, but what if you start sharing your personal information or posting under the name of scary social media content on a scam website? High-risk workplaces can implement particularly dangerous scenarios. What if I have access to the missile command system?
Mitchell hopes engineers, legislators and policymakers will encourage guardrails to mitigate such cases. For now, she foresees that the agent's abilities will become more refined for certain tasks. Immediately, I watch the agent interact with it. For example, an agent could work with my agent to set up a meeting.
This surge in agents could potentially rebuild the internet. Currently, much of the information online is specialized in human language, but this can change if AIS is increasingly interacting with websites. “Through the Internet, you're seeing more and more information that agents need to act on, although not directly in human language,” says Mitchell.
Dohmke echoes this idea. He believes that the concept of homepages will lose importance and design interfaces with AI agents in mind. Brands may begin to compete for AI attention over the human eyeballs.
One day, the agent even escapes the computer range. You can see AI agents embodied in robots, which will open up a world of physical tasks for them to help. “My prediction is to see agents who can do our laundry, cook and cook for us,” says Mitchell. “Don't give us access to the weapon.”
In 2024, Africa experienced a surge in digital blackouts, prompting many governments to disconnect millions of citizens from the internet over the past decade. A report by Internet Rights Group Access Now and #Keepiton revealed a record 21 internet shutdowns in 15 countries, surpassing previous years. Countries like Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, and Mauritius, as well as repeat offenders like Burundi, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, and Kenya, were cited for these actions. Authorities in Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tanzania were also implicated, along with non-state actors like militias. Telecommunications and internet service providers that comply with government shutdown orders are complicit in violating people’s rights, according to Felicia Anthonio, #Keepiton Campaign Manager at Access Now.
Most closures were linked to conflict, protests, and political instability, with restrictions often imposed during elections. The global trend of escalating internet shutdowns continued, with 296 closures in 54 countries in 2024 compared to 283 closures in 39 countries the previous year. Access to the internet has faced its worst challenges since 2016, reflecting a pattern of weaponization and restriction of internet access worldwide.
The impact of these closures on individuals and communities during times of turmoil and conflict was highlighted in the report. While some African countries had endured year-long internet restrictions by the end of 2024, others faced ongoing limitations like in Uganda and Equatorial Guinea. However, efforts to reverse this trend were seen in the passing of a landmark resolution by the African Human and People’s Rights Committee in March 2024.
Despite efforts to address the issue, election-related internet shutdowns persisted in Africa and other regions in 2024, even after the adoption of the ACHPR resolution. Antonio emphasized the importance of civil society advocacy in holding governments accountable for these shutdowns. While progress may be slow, there have been instances where authorities reconsidered their shutdown orders, offering a glimmer of hope for a more open and connected future.
A traditional traction elevator operates using cables to move the cabin up and down within the building shaft. An attached counterweight at the opposite end of the cable helps facilitate the movement of the cabin. Simply enter the cabin, select a floor, press a button, and let the electric motor transport you to your desired level. As the cabin ascends, the counterweight descends, and vice versa.
Enter the concept of space elevators, a more ambitious take on this idea. The system relies on cables, spanning several thousand meters, extending from space to Earth. Instead of launching rockets into space, the cabin travels along these cables. By utilizing some of the energy from rocket launches, the cable eliminates pollution.
Although it may seem far-fetched, the idea of space elevators has been under serious consideration for many years. The concept was first proposed in 1895 by Russian scientist and space exploration pioneer Konstantin Ziolkovsky, who introduced the concept of the Sky Ladder.
The primary challenge lies in establishing the connection point of the cable to space. Geostationary orbit satellites provide a solution. Positioned at a specific distance from Earth, geostationary orbit satellites remain fixed in one spot above the Earth, creating an ideal anchor point approximately 36,000km (22,200 miles) above the equator.
The process involves dropping lengthy cables from the satellite, causing the satellite to rise and counteract the weight of the cable to maintain its position. To counteract gravity’s effect on the cable under geostationary orbit, the centrifugal effect also contributes to stabilization.
The cables must be anchored and secured to the ground. Some proposals suggest securing anchors on mountaintops or towers to reduce the length of cables required. Another innovative concept suggests utilizing a mobile base on marine aviation vessels or platforms in international waters, allowing for flexibility in avoiding inclement weather or mitigating potential failures at the top.
Currently, a space elevator prototype, known as the “Climber,” is used to transport payloads up the cable. However, experts propose the idea of pulling the entire system into space once payloads reach orbit. Calculations indicate that payloads representing up to 1% of the cable’s mass can be accommodated. Despite the challenges, such as developing a cable 50 times stronger than steel, advancements in materials like carbon nanotubes or graphene offer promising solutions.
With predictions suggesting that space elevators could become a reality in the near future, ongoing research continues to explore innovative approaches to overcome the remaining obstacles.
This article addresses the question posed by Thomas Bletso, “Can we really build a space elevator?”
To submit a question, please email Questions@sciencefocus.com or message us on our Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram Page (be sure to include your name and location).
For fascinating science content, visit our Ultimate Fun Facts page.
Many people around the world now associate Tuesday’s Shrove – the day before Christian Lent that marks the traditional East Feast – with pancakes.
Pancakes are enjoyed by cultures worldwide in various shapes and sizes. French crepes, American griddle cakes, and Indian dosas are just a few examples of these versatile fried batter circles that offer endless sweet and tasty possibilities.
To ensure pancake day success, a bit of science can make a big difference. Materials chemists and food scientists Professor Matt Harting and Professor of Fluid Mechanics Ian Eames have shared their insights to enhance your favorite pancake recipes.
1. Replace regular milk with buttermilk
To achieve the perfect stack of fluffy American pancakes, consider substituting regular milk with buttermilk. Buttermilk adds a unique flavor profile to the pancakes and contains key molecules like diacetyl, aldehydes, ketones, amino acids, and lactic acid that enhance both taste and texture.
If you don’t have buttermilk at home, adding lemon juice to the batter can mimic the acidic effect of buttermilk.
2. Add melted butter to the batter
Melted butter in the pancake batter helps achieve a golden brown color and rich flavor due to the Maillard reaction. Butter ensures consistent thermal contact with the hot pan and contributes to the browning process.
Pro-tip: If using buttermilk, consider adding more baking soda to balance the acidic environment.
3. Use the Golden Ratio
The perfect pancake balance depends on the baker’s ratio, which determines the thickness and texture of the pancakes. For British pancakes, a ratio of 100g flour to 200ml milk is recommended.
4. Let the batter rest!
Allowing the pancake batter to rest for about 30 minutes helps relax the gluten in the flour, resulting in lighter pancakes with a smoother texture.
About our experts
Matt Harting is an associate professor of chemistry at the American University of Washington with expertise in food chemistry.
Ian Eames is a professor of fluid mechanics at the University of London and has conducted scientific studies on pancake-making.
The first researchers in science created mice that exhibit properties similar to extinct woolly mammoths.
Colossal Biosciences, an American Biotechnology Company, utilized CRISPR genome editing technology to develop the “Colossal Woolly Mouse.”
These mice are not miniature mammoths but have DNA designed to express mammoth-like properties, making them well-suited for cold environments.
An unpublished study published on Biorxiv explains how researchers modified seven mouse genes to give them a woolly coat.
This marks the first instance of a “living model” of animals with mammoth-like attributes.
Two “woolly mice” created by scientists
“Observing these mice is akin to peering into the past through a specialized lens,” said Dr. Louise Johnson, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Reading not involved in the study. “This technology provides an exciting avenue to test our theories about extinct organisms.”
She added, “Researchers successfully adjusted the mouse genome towards the mammoth genome for the first time.”
Through extensive computer analysis, researchers studied mammoth and African elephant genomes from 1.2 million years ago, modifying mouse genes related to hair growth and cold tolerance to create the final edited seven-gene combination. However, these mice do not possess an exact replica of mammoth genes, leading researchers to doubt the genes responsible for mammoth properties.
The Significance of this Discovery
According to Colossal Biosciences, this development is a groundbreaking step in addressing extinction. The company aims to reintroduce other extinct species with the goal of rebuilding ecosystems to maintain Earth’s balance. Founder Ben Lam envisions reviving species like dodos, giant ice age bears, and extinct Tasmanian marsupials known as thylacines.
Not all scientists are convinced of the immediate impact of this discovery.
While genetic manipulation has been used to create various models, including humans and extinct species, some remain skeptical. Professor Dusko Ilic, a stem cell science professor at King’s College London, acknowledges the milestone but warns of potential risks and ethical implications of such experiments.
While comparing mammoth and elephant genomes offers insights into adaptation and genetic traits, transforming mice into mammoth-like creatures may not directly translate to creating woolly elephants adapted for Arctic environments.
Many scientists doubt the feasibility of replicating mammoths through genetic manipulation alone without a complete understanding of their genetic makeup.
Colossal Biosciences, a US biotech startup, has announced the birth of what is called the “wool mouse.”
The company says gorgeous hair rodents are living evidence that their mission to restore wool mammoths from extinction within a few years is progressing.
To make mice, scientists have introduced eight simultaneous editing into the genome of experimental mice using modern genetic techniques. These include the addition of genes that make fur grow up to three times longer than usual, as well as other genes that make hair wavy and golden.
Other editing targets target genes associated with fat metabolism, which are thought to help increase mammoth size.
Mice are the result of years of hard work by scientists to reconstruct important parts of the mammoth genome. The last wool mammoth is believed to have died about 3,000 years ago, and scientists are stitching together mammoth DNA, which has been decomposed from relics that range from 35 to 1.2 million years ago.
This is the first time that some of the important genes identified throughout the study have been expressed in living animals.
read more:
Mammoth 2.0
Colossal's ambitious long-term plan is to add many of these mammoth genes to modern elephant embryos to create a mammoth-like hybrid.
Despite claiming to be revived wool mammoth, the original Mammuthus Primigeniuswith all the original genetic complexity and population diversity, it has not been brought back to life. Creatures are more accurately referred to as “cold-resistant elephants.”
Scientists designed a “wool mouse” with the mammoth gene, giving it a very long, wavy golden fur. – Photo Credit: Colossal Biosciences
The Mammoth's return was repeated by various groups and dates back to 2011. The group is generally privately funded, and the exact details of their work are rather opaque.
However, these lifestyle, breathing, and rather cute wool mice show that scientists have made impressive advances in reconstructing some of the key genes that have made mammoths unique. Colossal's Chief Scientist Dr. Beth Shapiro The mouse says it is a “critical step in examining an approach to revive the properties lost to extinction.”
A huge task
There's still a lot to do before you see mammoth-like creatures crossing the tundra or walking through the zoo.
Initially, it is much easier to create gene-edited mice than elephants. Mice have been a staple of genetic experiments for decades and can be quickly raised in a huge number.
Elephants, on the other hand, are rarely used in laboratory experiments, and live mammals happen to have longer gestation periods of over 18 months.
Colossal has made impressive advances by manipulating elephant cells into stem cells.
However, even if Colossal could create a viable elephant mammoth embryo, it would not be able to be used as a large number of surrogates, if any, because both Asian and African elephants are at risk of extinction.
This means that Colossal must develop its own artificial uterus to develop experimental embryos until birth. This has never been done before. Such a system should not only replicate all the complexity of the placenta, but also support calves that are as heavy as Asian elephant calves, exceeding at least 100 kg (220 lbs).
But perhaps the biggest question remaining is simply, why? Colossal says other similar tasks to revive mammoths and revive dodos and tylacine will lead to biotechnology that will help save other species from environmental changes.
The company claims to stimulate interest and investment so that they can't do anything else, starting with these iconic extinct creatures.
Certainly, the project has attracted a lot of media attention and has attracted more than $200 million (£157 million) of investments that probably wouldn't have made it to a traditional conservation project.
And there are already examples of the technology being used to support species facing extinction today. For example, in Australia, gene editing is used to provide resistance to the poison of cane toads, an invasive species that kill many animals in the region (adorable, endangered marsupials).
In the US, scientists used similar biotechnology to increase the genetic diversity of ferrets with black feet, but it had dipped to a population size that was essentially involved.
More broadly, Colossal's research could help scientists produce eggs, sperm and embryos of a variety of endangered species, including Asian and African elephants, which help to increase numbers.
We can ask questions
But do these lofty ambitions justify? Jurassic Park– Blatant use of genetic engineering? Many people are particularly intelligent social animals like elephants, and feel uneasy about corrections, not to mention a complete overhaul of the genome.
And what is the life of the first artificial wool elephant like? Where do they live and are they introduced to herds and families?
Are they healthy or tired of genetic problems? And shouldn't we focus our efforts on saving habitats and ecosystems, not individual species?
Giant wool mouse showing the properties of an extinct wool mammoth – Photo credit: Giant bioscience
In recent years, genetic engineering has gained greater acceptance among the public, and is generally considered an important way to produce new drugs and disease-resistant crops.
Does the creation of a large, shaggy elephant make people feel that biotechnology is going too far? Or, as a huge hope, will it serve as an inspiring symbol of how technology can save thousands of species that are at risk of extinction each year?
This is a question that biologists, ethicists and biotechnology regulators need to carefully consider the work of scaling up from mice to mammoths.
sO Microsoft It's decided An internet telephony company purchased it for $8.5 billion (£6.6 billion) in 2011 to end Skype. Millions of unfortunate users flock to the Microsoft Team, a virtual camp with a brain-dead aesthetic that even Zoom looks cool. This unforeseen situation has been telegraphed for quite some time, but even so, Skype is an astounding venture, and its ending mise is brought as a shock as it closes an interesting chain chapter in technological history.
The Internet has been around for a long time than most people notice. It dates back to the 1960s and back to the creation of Alpanet, a military computer network that emerged after the US had the “Sputnik moment.” It's a terrible perception that the Soviet Union appears to be moving forward with technology interests. The Internet design used today, the successor to Arpanet, began in the early 1970s and was first switched in January 1983.
From the start, the network designers decided to avoid limitations on previous communication systems, particularly voice-optimized analog telephone networks. This was owned by companies that were hopeless about digital signals and resisted innovation that they themselves had not been generating. Therefore, new networks have no owners or are not optimized for a particular medium, making them more tolerant than previous networks. Anyone can access it and create a service run as long as the computer meets the network's protocols.
As a result, we are an explosion of creativity that we live together today. What the Internet designers built was what scholars later called “an architecture for unauthorized innovation.” Or, in another way, global Platform for gushing surprises.
Created by Tim Berners-Lee in the late 1980s, the World Wide Web was one of those surprises. However, there was also something called VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). Speeches can be digitized (one and zero) and placed in data packets that can be sent over the Internet. And after reaching the destination it was converted to audio. Results: Free telephony anywhere in the world!
Skype was the first company to bring this magic to ordinary consumers. Founded in 2003 by Janus Friis (A Dane) and Niklas Zennström (Swedish) and headquartered in Luxembourg. However, the software that was equipped with it was written by three Estonians who also wrote peer-to-peer file sharing software. In 2005, eBay bought it for $2.6 billion (£2 billion). By 2006 there were 100 million registered users, and by 2009 it had added about 380,000 new users every day, generating approximately $740 million (£575 million) in annual revenue. So, Skype was the first European company to reach US-level size.
At that point, something inevitable happened: in 2011 Skype was purchased by Microsoft and absorbed by Tech Colossus' Maw. Many observers, including this columnist, wondered what Microsoft thought was doing with the new toy. Last week's news suggests that the company never understood it. Either way, after the pandemic arrived in 2020 and people started working from home, it was clear that Microsoft needed to have something to drive away the threat posed by Zoom. Skype may have probably become the core of that response, but instead the decision was made to place all the energy to make the team a Behemoth answer to remote working. Since then, Skype has been surplus to the requirements and dies have been cast.
But before it disappears, it is worth remembering that it was on the scene 20 years ago. Today, most people don't know how close telephony is, in the analog era, is, closed and depressing. It was an industry run by either a complacent, unresponsive, dominant monopoly (USA AT&T) or governmental institutions (UK GPOs). It may take several months to install a phone in your home. The phones were expensive and international calls were actively prohibited.
I grew up in the country (Ireland) with a huge diaspora at a time when calls from the US only meant one family death. If immigrants were in touch with people returning home, it was just letters and perhaps a strange parcel. It's not a phone call. In rural Ireland, their families will occasionally wake up the night before their sons and daughters leave for America or Australia.
And now? The VoIP technology that Skype brings to people's lives is commoditized. Social media platforms like WhatsApp and Signal offer unlimited and free audio (and video) connections with friends, family and colleagues around the world. Calls that were once bankrupt are made every day. Microsoft may not have thought that Skype would ultimately help. But the rest of us certainly did.
What I've read
3 Market Economy Dave Karpf's A sharp essay Identify the three types of money behind the power of Silicon Valley.
I will take home sovereignty an An insightful editorial in Norma Why the current and the 47th President is acting like the 25th by Nathan Gardells.
A story of battle David Allen Green is in the offshore earthquake control collision Foresightful analysis in Financial Times.
Are you looking to keep your mind sharp as you age? One secret could be as simple as regularly exercising your brain with mathematics and reading comprehension, whether it’s at work, at home, or even while reading this article.
A groundbreaking new study led by Professor Eric Hanushek of Stanford University suggests that engaging in mathematics and reading can help prevent age-related cognitive decline. The research shows that individuals who regularly practice these skills do not experience significant declines in cognitive abilities over time, whether they are reading emails, doing calculations, or reading articles like this one. This challenges the notion that cognitive decline is inevitable with age.
The study reveals that cognitive skills typically peak in a person’s 40s before slowly declining. However, those who consistently engage in mathematics and reading, whether at work or in their daily activities, show no decline at all.
“Our findings indicate a significant increase in average skills in literacy and numeracy until the 40s. After this point, there is a slight decrease in literacy skills and a more noticeable decline in numeracy,” the study notes.
This study may inspire you to tackle your taxes – Credit: Skynesher
These findings challenge previous studies that suggested cognitive decline begins in early adulthood. Unlike past research that compared different age groups at one point in time, this study followed the same individuals over several years, providing a more accurate understanding of how cognitive abilities change with age.
Hanushek and his team propose that what was previously thought to be age-related cognitive decline might actually be due to differences in skill levels between generations rather than the natural effects of aging itself.
By analyzing data from language and mathematics assessments in the German population aged 16-65 and retesting the same group 3.5 years later, researchers found that women’s math skills declined significantly over time, indicating potential gender disparities. Further exploration of these differences is planned for future studies.
Have you ever wondered why some dogs look naturally rounded, no matter how much they run around? After all, the same genes that contribute to human obesity are also found in our dogs.
in New genome researchscientists have identified several genes associated with obesity in dogs. This is a gene that we humans share. This means that our favorite furry friends (sorry, cats) will actually help researchers unlock new insights into weight gain, health and complex diseases.
Environmental factors such as Inexpensive availability of ultra-processed foods Scientists, commonly chosen for increased rates of obesity, emphasize that it is a complex condition with a large number of biological root causes. The main factor is hereditary Research from 2007 People estimate that there is 40-70% of people who develop obesity due to genes they inherit from their parents.
As Dr. Eleanor Rafansaid he will lead the academics with new research. BBC Science Focus, “If you're unlucky enough to get the genes that are prone to obesity, it manifests as a bigger appetite and makes it difficult to resist those drives. Slim people aren't morally good. You don't need to show that much willpower to maintain a healthy weight.”
To see if obesity in dogs is also hereditary, researcher Natalie Wallis and her team looked at the genes of a 241 pet Labrador retriever.
Oscar and Isla, and the Labrador used in this study. Photo credit: Natalie Wallis
Using a heterologous approach, they identified multiple obesity-inducing genes shared by dogs and humans. Among these, the gene dennd1b plays an important role in the way our cells process energy – has emerged as a particularly strong genetic association between human and dog obesity.
“By looking at just a few hundred Labrador retrievers, we discovered new biology about the associations of the whole species. We hope that more people will consider using dog genetic models for more scientific discoveries in the future, especially for complex diseases,” Wallis said. BBC Science Focus.
Not only does it provide scientists with new models to understand human diseases, but this study also helps to care for dogs. Pet obesity is on the rise, and at Royal Veterinary College in London Recently, we have reported 1 in 14 dogs It is recorded as overweight every year in the UK.
In the US, 2022 Pet Obesity Association (APOP) Survey It is found that 59% of dogs are overweight, indicating a wide range of issues in pet health. However, up until now, the genetic basis of dog obesity has not been extensively studied.
Dr. Eleanor Lafan takes chocolate Labrador retrievers. Photo credit: Dr. Eleanor Rafan
Understanding pet genetics may be a game changer for their care. “Our results underscore the importance of encouraging exercise and limiting food intake for pet dogs,” says Dr. Rafan.
“Many people still blame the owners of fat dogs, saying they are lazy or extravagant, and the same stereotypes are reflected on obese people. Our data shows that controlling food intake in high-risk dogs is much more difficult. It should actually change the way dogs deal with obesity. They should target high-risk dog owners and support effective management (rather than criticizing them).”
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